Deception
by Jessarai
Summary: Neither good nor evil, a renegade lives her last months before a world ravaged by war takes her under. Yet, when she is gone, few will remember her for the person she was, underneath her lies, underneath her deceptions. Akatsuki vs. Konoha. SasoSaku.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **Naruto, its world, and its characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and not me. I **do** own Ookamika Saori, the Ookamika Clan, and the plotline.

**Author's Note:** I am sort of happy to be back :3 My BIF and I both concluded that Saori is more than ten times better than Saisuki (who you wouldn't know if you were here circa 2007), so I hope this turns out much better than _My Life With the Akatsuki/Revenge Was Never Bittersweet_. Also, please check out my deviantART account! I have a companion project, 100 Flashes, which follows Saori's life in images in chronological order, unlike this, which lives mainly in flashbacks. My dA username is Saisuki.

As my first lovely reviewer pointed out, I must confess I forgot to notify readers. **This is not a NaruSaku story**. The main pairing is SasoSaku and contains **original characters.** Other pairings that are to be found (though not firmly decided yet) are: ShikaTema, SaiIno, NaruHina, PaiKo, SuiKa.

Please, enjoy!

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**Prologue**

Every time I stare at the little _thing_ in my hands, my heart thumps faster and faster. I know staring at it half the day isn't going to get me anywhere, but I want to chicken out. I want to be the coward I've tried so hard to overcome. Who wants to walk up to the murderous Uchiha Madara and his Akatsuki, one of which was immortal, and try to use a foreign object left behind by her late master?

It was not like I _didn't_ have a choice. Things are so much easier in those unrealistic fantasy novels, where the hero has _no_ choice but pull an amazing defeat on the main antagonist. Instead, I'm not the main protagonist. I may not even be on the protagonist's side. I am the gray of the black and white, of good and evil. I suppose being gray and being unable to be stereotyped to a certain side lets me get to make a tough decision - whether or not to make an effort in stopping Uchiha Madara or not. By all logical means, the decision should be an easy "yes, kill him" but it isn't as easy for a coward, like me. Forget that my life is at stake if I don't try to stop Madara, but I'd have a hand in endangering the life of two very important people. Those two would be the lover of a man I most admired and their son.

Gosh, how long ago was it that I broke out of Iwagakure no Sato's prison with two infamous Akatsuki and the late Godaime Hokage Tsunade's pupil? It seemed ages ago when it really wasn't. I got to experience some kickass things while I was fleeing from Iwagakure, a place I had once called home. I learned what it meant to have a best friend, how much it hurt to fight with that best friend, what it felt like to have a father. Don't get me wrong, I knew my father. He was one hell of an egotistical, sexist jerk. The man I had come to admire was far from the heart-touching, loving father I had always hoped for, but he was far better than my own biological one. He'd yell at me for doing careless things, but it wasn't only because it inconvenienced him, it was because I would hurt myself. My biological father would just yell at me for getting in "God-damned" way.

Of course, I also got to experience what nearly dying was like. Wasn't that fun?

After having faced death mere inches from me, I stopped thinking about dying. I stopped fearing it. It's not that death isn't scary or anything; some things in our shinobi world is just ten times scarier. Such as being one of the first to realize my sensei, in which my existence is solely present because of him, was dead. And that the Akatsuki was attacking my home. I'd rather face death every day of my life than get that feeling of shock and helplessness. Sometimes, I can't even believe he's dead. All more the reason to fear getting into the face of Uchiha Madara with a foreign object that may not work.

Oh great. I hadn't even considered that this weird talisman thing of sorts might not work.

Sighing, I look back up to the battle before me. I have no idea what I'm doing, just standing here while the rest of Konoha is getting obliterated. It's been what, three years? That sounds about right. It's been three years since the late Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara, was assassinated, and yet none of us had a clue of who killed him yet. You can't blame us, we're too busy, you know, _staying alive_.

The credit of all this chaos goes to the Akatsuki, as you might've expected. As their numbers dwindled, everyone expected them to just die off. Instead, they somehow managed to bond all the countries together against Konoha and attacked. No one had expected it; everything was quiet when, out of the blue, bombs went off, and the Great Hokage Faces trapped and killed over half of the residents in Konoha. I hadn't been there, but a kunoichi I know, Tenten, told me it was terrible, all that screaming, all that blood.

Tenten was one of the few known survivors. If there were more, they were in hiding and they would _not_ be coming back out until it was clear. The only help Konoha received were that of renegade groups, shinobi who had fled their countries, low-class missing-nin, and the faction of Suna who had supported the late Kazekage. I am one of those low-class missing-nin. I come from Iwagakure, the Hidden Stone Village. I was met with over all distrust, naturally, when I was delivered to the main force of Konoha's remnants. I had been on a suicidal mission when I was compromised. While I had been out of sight, Madara had spread the rumor I had joined the Akatsuki. It was entirely plausible, too - I had spent the greater part of a year with two Akatsuki, called one of them my best friend, and the other I idolized. Even Haruno Sakura, who had spent the same amount of time with them, could believe it.

I was kept imprisoned in my _own_ clan's ruined compounds - the current main base for Konoha - until Akatsuki's only female member announced Madara was on the move to this location. A boy named Sai, whom Sakura apparently had told the entirely of our adventures fleeing from Iwa, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten had vouched for my reintegration. Neji and Tenten had refused to believe the crap about me aligning myself with the Akatsuki as they had known my operation. Sai just _knew_.

A few days ago, I was placed in an underground barrack, in which Sakura and I shared with three other Konoha girls – Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino – a girl from Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud Village, and a girl from Sunagakure, the Hidden Sand Village, who went by the name of Temari. I was told Temari was the brother of Gaara, and had lost her other brother, Kankuro, as well.

I usually sit and stay up throughout the night, both in fear of an attack and in fear of eternal slumber. The other girls are always crying, and I want to cry, too, though my tear ducts dried out a long time ago. Sakura always cries about a boy named Uzumaki Naruto in her sleep. On occasion, I hear her murmur the name of another boy, Uchiha Sasuke. Each time she does, I get an uncontrollable anger. He was the reason why I lost my best friend. He was the reason why Uchiha Itachi was dead. He was the reason why Madara was so difficult to stop.

I asked the Ino girl who Naruto was, and she almost broke up in tears as well. I hated myself for it, but I was dying to know. I later found out he was one of the loser kids who tried so hard to get to the top, the type of kids I learned to respect. He was like Sakura's brother, and was now one of the many shinobi from Konoha who was missing. I pray with them from time to time for Naruto's welfare.

Temari never mentions either of her brothers; I think she tries to forget they were even there, and we respect that. Hinata lost her little sister, Hanabi, her father, and most of the rest of her family. Tenten spends most of her time with Neji. They lost their sensei, Maito Gai, and their other teammate, Rock Lee. Ino's the only one who tries to be optimistic, even though she lost one of her teammates, Akimichi Chouji, too. She's almost always with a woman named Yuuhi Kurenai, who has a two year old child.

A kunai flashes by me, catching me off guard. A shriek follows, and an ex-Suna nin goes down in pain. I leap away, taking to the shadows of the few trees that survived the treacherous fire that consumed my clan eleven years earlier. What had gone wrong? How did we even get in this situation? I close my eyes, throwing a few projectiles into the messy blur, pinning down a few Kumo nin, though hardly impeding their movement. Against my body's will, I move, knowing someone must've seen my projectiles and was probably coming to see if I was there. Unfortunately for them, that'd be the last thing they did. A platoon of four Kiri nin cautiously walked around the trunk. One of them stepped on my wire, springing off my hastily made trap, silencing them. Good. Now I just had to get into the Akatsuki's defense unnoticed and in one piece… or at least with a functioning body part that could get this foreign talisman thing to activate, whatever it was.

Leaping from my position back into the fray, I spot Sakura, using her unusual strength to beat the crap out of the other guys. I smile a little but as soon as she looks my way, I lose it. Sakura still doesn't believe I have good intentions. Hinata is with her cousin, Neji, and Tenten, fighting the Akatsuki Alliance off. Temari is blowing her opponents away, her eyes blaring in the pain of losing both of her brothers. I spot Sai, one of three sympathetic hands that came my way, painting away. His eyes meet mine for a split second; in that split second, he knew what I was going to do. He didn't need a Kekkei Genkai that could read minds, like mine, to read me like an open scroll. He shook his head and sprinted after me, his kunai skillfully taking out whoever was close enough. Soon he was matching my steps, speeding through the crowd.

"Are you out of your mind, Saori-san?" Sai demands to know. I firmly close my eyes and nod.

"I'd say I'm worthy of being the greatest nightmare for a psychologist, but somebody has to go crazy. They say it happens to those with my Kekkei Genkai," I reply, ducking before a giant wind shuriken slices me in half. Sai redirects it the other way.

"Is this what Jigoku left you to do?" I wince as Sai mentions my late sensei's name. I remember Jigoku's face well; a sudden mixture of emotion – something he had never shown before – had exploded on his face when he told me exactly how to stop the war and kill Uchiha Madara. It was just days before he up and left without warning, attempting to stop Pain from destroying the clan he had sworn to lead and protect.

"Yes, Sai, this is the _thing_ that's supposed to kill Uchiha Madara." Sai was quiet for a bit, Madara just another few thousand of meters off.

"So… this is it?"

"Yeah… this is it." I feel his hand on my wrist as he pulls me to a stop, nearly ripping my arm out of my arm socket. "Ow…"

"Apologies. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Well Jigoku-sama left me this for some reason, right? He could have left it with one of his other students, but he chose me to use it. I'm not ready for the level of jerkdom it takes to not give this an effort."

"Humans do weird things, Saori-san."

"Or it's just me," I sadly smile. Sai returns the favor, but a slight twitch at one end of his mouth gives him away. "I'm sure you'll find Naruto-san, Sai. Don't worry about it, people will eventually warm up to you."

"Huh?" Confusion replaces Sai's smile. "Was I obvious?"

"Yeah." Against my will, I turn away, all traces of happiness gone. Madara's even closer now. My legs just want to turn tail and run for all it was worth. But I can't. I have to think about the kids, like Kurenai's, and Sakura's. I have to think about them. I bolt away from Sai; he doesn't bother to convince me otherwise. It isn't long before the Hachibi host - Killerbee of Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud - feels a presence at his back. It's yours truly.

"What're you planning?" Killerbee asks, not bothering to rap. The guy loved to express himself and took a relaxed approach to life, but this was no time. The world hung in the balance.

"Well, I have this… erm… thing. I think it's meant to restrain Madara somewhat. I'm going to try to pull my Kekkei Genkai, the Mind's Eye, in Fifth State on him after I activate this thing. I probably won't work -"

"- because of his damn Mangekyou Sharingan," snorts Killerbee.

"Right. Because of that damn thing."

"I thought your clan's Kekkei Genkai only goes to Fourth State. The way I hear it is that Fifth State is unattainable."

"While that is true, I think I can force my eyes to it, or close to it. It doesn't matter; as long as Madara thinks he's seeing Fifth State activating, he's going to lose his game. That when I need you and your brother to come in." Killerbee nods, quickly catching on as he pounds one after another with lightning-laden fists. Likely my only advantages I have against Madara are his fear and his - what I consider - miscalculated judgment of my Kekkei Genkai's potential. My Kekkei Genkai - the Mind's Eye - has four states, each with its own unique ability. The first is to read minds. The second is communication through the mind. Second state is most commonly when evolution ends for those gifted with the Mind's Eye in my clan, the Ookamika Clan. The third state is the hardest to achieve, which is the ability to control someone through the mind. The fourth is to kill someone through the mind, though it carries its own risk of complete chakra drainage and slow recovery. The fifth state, which is unachieved according to written record, was made to cover the errors of the fourth state - to ensure the death of any one person in exchange for your own.

Both Jigoku and Madara knew I had a very promising Mind's Eye. It has already proven itself, having evolved the Fourth State with a mound of help, mind you. I admit I don't believe I can get to the Fifth State, but I know I can force it. I'll likely lose my eyes but if it can push Madara off his pedestal for a moment, it was good enough for me. Just a small opening was all that Killerbee would need to pull off a devastating blow with his brother, the Raikage, who defected because he didn't believe in "this bullshit" with the Akatsuki. The whole thing was a risky and foolish affair. Maybe you won't blame me for wanting to submit to my cowardice. "The window of opportunity will be small," notes Killerbee.

"I know. I don't think that this _thing_ will restrain Madara long. He'll probably force one of the Mangekyou Sharingan's many abilities on me, and that thing will break. I'm worried that if this thing breaks, it might cause some sort of explosion or something. Keep your eyes out for that and jump out of the way if it happens."

"You're a bossy girl, aren't you?"

"Only when it counts." In the next moment I am gone from his side, ducking and weaving through the masses of bodies that have pitted against each other. The remaining, and some revived, Akatsuki are an impediment to Madara. Their formation seems loose but their defense is tight, and lacks a weak point in terms of members. They're all S-Ranked, stronger than I am. Controlled breaths pass by my lips. I'm starting to shake. To my left is Hoshigaki Kisame, whose blade, Samehada, sucks chakra like a leech. It supplied the reason for the rising pile of bodies around him. To my right is Hidan, who swings his three-bladed scythe. If my blood catches on that blade, I'm done for, I'm told. I wouldn't like to know how the peculiar man named Zetsu would like to kill me. Hidan it is.

Hidan laughs with disdainful disrespect to the lives he's reaped. His blade is a tad bit heavier in his grip, and his violet eyes flash immediately to its source. I admit, I don't have the lightness of touch I used to. Floating unconsciously down a river can do that. "You damn bitch!" growls Hidan. "You've scuffed my scythe! What kind of dumb kunoichi does that anyways?" I land on the other side of him, but he's after me anyways. That is, until a blur of dark gray and platinum blonde collides into his front. Its blue eyes flash up at me - it's Ookamika Tamaika, a fellow kinswoman I'm not too fond of.

"The hell you waiting for? Get him," Tamaika hisses shortly before Hidan shoves her off and goes one on one with her. I can't help but feeling a little downcast. The likelihood I come out alive is looking slimmer and slimmer. But I've no time for such morbid thoughts.

"Well, well, if it isn't Ookamika Saori, the girl who traded her life for the sake of Deidara. What's this? You're going to destroy the very being who spared your life?" Uchiha Madara chuckles. I growl in return. Of course, Madara knew how to get to me. The night I almost lost my memory floods back unwillingly. "What is it that Jigoku-san left with you?"

"He left something to kill you with."

"Kill? Kill me, you say?"

"Yes, I said to kill you with."

"You are talented in a few areas, yes, but kill _me_? I am Uchiha Madara, soon to be the bearer of peace."

"Wonderful, I really hadn't taken the time to notice."

"How you've survived this long still befuddles me. Right, I suppose I really should have killed you that day…"

"Too late, I don't take rain checks." I throw up Jigoku's pendant into the air. Madara must have recognized it; he hoarsely roars a "No!" before it begins to glow and activate. He holds up a hand to one of his eyes, his other bleeding eye staring at me. It's too late for him to stop the pendant, perhaps he hopes to stop me. His concentration is momentarily broken. The whites of my eyes are displaced with the same shade of gold that my irises usually are. And those said irises become black, that which represents the Mind's Eye's First and Second States. The color drains from Madara's face as he watches my eyes change to completely white, signifying the Third and Fourth States. But I don't intend on stopping there.

It's the eyes he wished he would never see. Black voids of emptiness.

"You can't… you can't get to the Fifth State…," he half mutters to himself. The black is slowly eating away at the whites, I can feel it like an awful cancer. "No, no, no, _NO!_" His Mangekyou Sharingan spins wildly, and the pendant cracks. I'm running out of time and out of chakra. I press even harder, but not before he inflicts his jutsu on me. I'm caught in his Tsukiyomi. The world flickers; Madara is weak - he can't hold it up for much longer. Suddenly, I hear his evil chuckle above me, though I can't see him.

"Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?"

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**End note:** please review! If you dislike this story, please write something constructive. It really does help!


	2. The Ocean Visitor

**Disclaimer:** Again, I d not own the Naruto universe. These are my characters and plotline, however.

**Author's Note: **Sorry! I don't remember if I mentioned this was to be updated weekly, but it is. I uploaded this and its companion images at deviantART and completely forgot about Sorry!

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**Chapter One **The Ocean Visitor

"DADDY?" CALLED A YOUNG boy. A muffled reply came from the direction of the house's small living-slash-dining room. The boy continued to stare out the small, dusty window in the home's only bathroom. "Daddy?" he called again.

"What is it, son? Stop playing in the bathroom. Help your mother with dinner."

"But, daddy, there's someone floating outside."

"Yes, son, we live close to the ocean. Rich folk like to go out for a swim. Now come out."

"But, daddy, she's been floating for awhile now."

"What?" Father soon reunited with son by the window. "What happened there? Honey?"

"What is it, dear?" the boy's mother called from the kitchen.

"Get some water, quick. There's a young girl outside. She looks unconscious. I'm going out!" The father, Fuyaku, rushed out, followed by his excited son, carrying a rag of a towel. The mother soon followed with a bucket of water in hand. "Hey. Hey!" The forty-year old man repeatedly slapped the unconscious girl's cheeks, but still, she remained motionless in a bath of saltwater.

"Quick, her lungs are probably waterlogged! Get out of the way, you two!" the mother, Kimiko, ordered. The boy watched, his eyes wide in fear and awe as a green glow enveloped his mother's hands.

"Kimiko… you promised you wouldn't do this again," murmured the father. Instead of the submissive apology he had expected, he received a rather angry response from his wife.

"Fuyaku, she could die! So shut up about my promise, I was born and raised a medic nin, and one I will forever be damned to be, whether I chose to forget it or not!"

"Watch your tongue; our boy is here!" Kimiko promptly huffed, beads of sweat descending from her forehead. It had been a long time since she had called onto the chakra she tried so hard to suppress. Twenty-five years ago, she had promised to never use chakra again when she married Fuyaku, not because it unsettled him, but for the safety of her family. Surely her past would catch up to her if they caught a whiff of her chakra. Moments later, a fountain of ocean water sprouted from the young girl's mouth.

"Miss, are you alright?" Instead of responding to Kimiko, she reached for Kimiko's son's hand, which Fuyaku was quick to react to, slapping the girl's hand away.

"What are you doing?" Fuyaku snapped.

"Water. She needs the water! Hurry, Shimaru!" Little of the water from the bucket got past the girl's dried lips, but anything was good enough. "What happened?" Finally, the girl cracked open her eyes. The bucket fell into the sand as Kimiko sat, briefly mesmerized.

"What… what is it?" Fuyaku asked, a protective arm already around his son.

"It's… it's nothing, promise."

Fuyaku eyed his wife. "Last time I remember, your promises are pretty crummy." Kimiko did not respond, and instead snapped at her husband to carry the girl into their living room.

* * *

IN ANOTHER PART OF Fire Country another young girl was facing problems of her own. Her child was four months old, yet she had to leave him with someone she hoped would be trustworthy. She had also heard someone whom she once called a friend had committed suicide two weeks ago. That ex-friend, who she had known simply as Saori, was one of two people, both now dead, who knew who the father of her child was, aside from herself. Around the same time of Saori's suicide, Deidara, an S-Rank missing-nin who was apart of the criminal organization, Akatsuki, had committed suicide as well. She had been nearby when Deidara blew himself up, on a mission. That mission had taken an extensive toll on her; she was burdened by the guilt of having kept her child. No one would be able to stand the sight of her if they knew she had given birth to the child of a deceased S-Rank criminal who was responsible for the death of possibly more than two Kazekage.

Aside from the guilt of keeping her son, she had the guilt of something else. Saori, she knew, had loved Deidara. Perhaps not in the way one would first think of love - Saori had always wanted a family, and a brother was what she found in Deidara. He was her best friend, until some differences got in the way. Of what, Sakura ran out of time to find out. Just when it looked like it would patch up, Saori had killed herself. The girl had tried to get Saori and Deidara to make up, as little help as she had provided, but she couldn't help but wonder if she had only agitated it in the end.

A brief rap on the door interrupted her self-pitying thoughts. "Sakura-chan?" The girl, Haruno Sakura wondered tried to wipe the anxiety from her face. How much longer she could take of this, she didn't know. She shared this tiny room with Hyuuga Hinata. It was cramped and hardly could one ever get a good night's sleep. But Sakura couldn't complain. It definitely beat having to sleep outside in the early spring weather, despite the lack of alone time to reflect on her mistakes.

Konoha had been destroyed in a fateful battle against the Akatsuki, who had come without so much as a warning one early morning at dawn. The Akatsuki had forces from Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud, Iwagakure, the Hidden Stone, Kirigakure, the Hidden Mist, and even Sunagakure, the Hidden Sand. Konoha hardly stood a chance, but by a beautiful miracle, many of its shinobi force had gotten out alive. At least, that was what Sakura was led to believe, as she was not present at the time of the disaster. The citizens they were sworn to protect were not so as lucky. Fire Country was now a desolate place, crime running rampant, the Fire Feudal Lord having been assassinated alongside many other notables. It was pure luck she was able to find Hinata, Sai, and Yamato, who were operating as a cell to find other Konoha fugitives, after the entire mess.

The door to the small room in the tattered inn that smelled of drugs and dried blood slowly creaked open. She had expected Sai to come - the way the other three had estranged from her more and more only meant that they were going to confront her - probably because they knew about her child, whom she had left with Chiyo's brother, Ebizo, her child's great granduncle. Instead, she was greeted with the pleasant face of Hinata.

She seemed a little determined. Over the months Sakura had spent with her makeshift cell, she had noticed Hinata stopped stuttering. "Sakura… You probably know… we've been talking… and… well, we need to talk."

* * *

IT WAS IN THE dead of the night that Kimiko's dreaded visit occurred. The young "ocean visitor" was wide awake, anticipating that Kimiko would come by to question her. "You're awake," Kimiko stated, which was met with no response. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, thank you." A short silence followed, and then: "So… remember anything?"

"No." Kimiko sighed. So the "ocean visitor" was going to be tough, huh?

"That was one of the worst lies I have encountered in my lifetime. I'm surprised you are even a shinobi."

"Who says I am a shinobi?"

"You thought I would look over your eye color? Common folk do not have abnormal eye colors, and don't tell me that gold is a common eye color. That eye color generally only shows in Wind Country and Cloud Country. But you're light-skinned… so you're from Sunagakure no Sato, am I wrong?"

"I don't know."

"I saved you. The least you could do is tell me who I stuck my neck out for."

"If things worked that way, crime lords would be town heroes."

"Where is your ninja band?"

"Who knows?" Kimiko sighed again. In her previous life as a kunoichi, she had never come across much difficulty when it came to interrogation. Perhaps who she had worked for had some influence. This child seemed to feel hopeless. "I don't see why you came tonight. You were a medic nin, right? You know how it is. It's a dog-eat-dog world. One shred of information, and you can be torn into shreds."

"You're so young, how can you know that?'

"I know more than I look like I know. Life was not a kind teacher with me."

"Are you an Uchiha, then? Or from Konoha?" The last tragic battle of sorts Kimiko recalled was the annihilation of the Uchiha Clan. Konoha's tragedy seemed too recent to produce such a result. The only problem was this girl lacked all characteristics of Uchiha; she had red hair, gold eyes, and what appeared to be a nasty scar running across her right eye. Kimiko fumbled for names of disappeared clans… there had been one in Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud, though she couldn't recall when they disappeared. They were named the Tamakachi or Tamaichi Clan or something like that. There was another clan, somewhere in the south…

"You clearly have little knowledge of history outside Fire Country."

"Don't be rude. I know the Ookamika Clan perished in a wildfire, but…"

"But what?"

"I thought all Ookamika carried a fuuton chakra type, wind users."

"And I am not a fuuton user?"

"I'm not stupid. I checked; you are a katon user, one who masters fire. I had to prepare, in the situation you decided to pay us back in the wrong kind of way."

"I'm not… like that."

"Who could have guessed, with an attitude like yours?" Silence.

"So, that is what the Suna government told you about the Ookamika Clan?"

"So you are an Ookamika."

"…I didn't say that." Kimiko sighed and got on her feet, heading towards her son's bedroom, as Fuyaku had taken their son into the master bedroom with him.

"Only an Ookamika would know what truly happened to the Ookamika Clan." A comeback had already settled itself in the young girl's head, but instead she bit her tongue, her fighting spirit's embers dying. There was no point in arguing anyhow; she had underestimated Kimiko's intelligence, and her heritage was the price she had paid. Though Kimiko seemed as harmless as the next commoner, it was quite obvious the girl had to limit her stay; Kimiko was a dangerous snake, ready to strike, under her fair skin and stunning green eyes. The only problem that faced the "ocean visitor" was her lack of a target; she had no where to go, and little knowledge of the time she'd been gone, and what had occurred in that period. Had the Akatsuki succeeded in world domination? Was this little shed by the seashore one of the few, unfortunate but fortunate at the same time, take it as you will, that still remained? Regardless if Konoha's survivors were around, Konoha had no place in its ranks for a despised missing-nin such as her. More importantly, though, was a certain Konoha kunoichi who bore the lifeblood of a man she admired still alive?

* * *

BY EIGHT OF NEXT morning, Kimiko's "ocean visitor" was already up and about, in the fish market. Shocked the girl was, to find a lively marketplace; where was she, in such a wondrous place, that war seemed be unable to send its gloominess to? Was she anywhere near Fire Country, or the Akatsuki domains? The sun beat down on the burning scalps of merchants, housewives, and energetic kids. Had the war passed? Had Konoha pulled an unbelievable triumph, the Akatsuki vanquished? Sighting a dango shop, the "ocean visitor" immediately sped her pace; one of a few ways to find her locale was eating the local food. In this case, the dango was exquisite, which meant one thing: she was in Fire Country, for sure. _So how the hell is this place still so… idyllic? Are they just… ignorant?_

"Well, don't you look roughed up, lass?" The "ocean visitor" hardly grimaced, her heavenly meal disturbed by the coarse voice of what seemed to be a seadog. She continued to chew, snapping open her left eye, visible to the world.

"May I help you?"

"Buy me a plate of dango, that'd be nice," the man said, taking a seat across from her. Her hypothesis proved correct; a possibly thirty year old man who donned a black eye patch, a dark blue bandana, and ragged pieces of cloth draped across his shoulders. His muscles rippled almost quietly under the ragged cloth, like smooth waves on a quiet day at the beach.

"Sorry. That, I cannot do."

"Well isn't someone feeling awfully bold today? Don't you know there's a war goin' on?" The girl's frantic attempt to hide her shock ended in an embarrassing failure, as she was barely able to swallow a bite of dango whole.

"You mean the Konoha folk have not been vanquished yet?"

"Kunoichi, are you?"

She paused. "What makes you say so?"

"No young lass around these parts have muscles worth noting."

"Worth noting?"

"Aye." She chanced a glance at her arms and legs. And nearly choked yet again. Her muscles were still far more noticeable than the average common folk; however, they looked so deteriorated compared to what they used to be.

"So why do you confront me? You should know full well what kunoichi are capable of."

"And you should know full well what us seadogs are capable of."

The girl sighed, slamming her empty ceramic tea cup on the creaking wooden table. "What do you want?" she hissed in a half-menacing voice, unable to control the rising fear. It was a while since she last called on her chakra, awhile since she last fought, since she last saw _him_. Was this all a setup? Was _he_ waiting for her outside, ready to blow her into unidentifiable shreds?

"I was commissioned. I think you'll want this?" The man slid a scratched out Hidden Stone village headband across the table. She was stunned for a moment, but long enough for the man to slip out of the shop. She could count on one hand the number of people who would be able to recognize her in the state she was in. Three of which who were dead. Did the Konoha girl send her this? It was nowhere near the size of her old ninja hitai-ate, probably meant to go around her arm. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of person thought so much as to _decide_ how should she wear her ninja hitai-ate. She'd like to give this person a piece of her mind.

KIMIKO FOUND HERSELF PUZZLED by the "ocean visitor." Aside from her snack at the dango shop, the girl not once asked for money, nor did she eat the food Kimiko prepared. She rarely ate, and when she was hungry, she would fish and cook her own food outside. She would only associate herself with Kimiko and her family when it was time to sleep, and, from what it seemed, the girl only slept a few hours in the day. Otherwise, the girl kept clear of them, usually seen on the boardwalk or the fish market, which, Kimiko realized, she was selling off the surplus fish she caught to merchants, raising her own funds. With such planned thinking, Kimiko guessed that the girl knew the merchants were ripping her off for their low offers for her fish, but only the girl did not wish to bicker. It was day four since the "ocean visitor's" arrival, and the end of her stay was likely coming to an end. This morning, Kimiko found a few delicious looking fish gutted and cleaned on the chopping board, which she supposed was some sort of payment. Kimiko decided to prepare some herbs for the young girl to aid her travels, heading out to the forest, assuming the girl was in the fish market.

* * *

"I'D NEVER GUESS A brat like you would be working off of the fish market to gather funds," a teenage boy calmly stated, leaning against the wooden pole of a fish shop. The "ocean visitor" looked up briefly, noting not to stare at the boy's striking similarity to someone she knew well.

"Do I have business with you?"

"Nope, not me," he replied, pushing himself off the wooden pole, glancing at her. "Of course. I told him not to give you a useless ninja headband, you'd never wear it."

"So you sent it?"

"Strike two."

"What does your employer want?"

"Employer? That's a funny way to put it. I think you know who sent me. And the seadog from a couple of days ago." The "ocean visitor" tapped her foot impatiently as the merchant busily weighed her fish on the scale.

After a moment of careful thinking, she continued, "I don't plan on coming back."

"Why not?"

"He… They… they give me bad memories."

"You have a duty. You can't just decide you don't want to do something and quit. You have to see it through."

"I never asked for this duty."

"You were born with it. Just like me, just like them, just like him."

"I'm still not coming with you."

"I could have guessed that much. But _no_, he wouldn't listen."

"…How many of us are still alive?"

"A hundred or so."

Shock spread across her face. "A hundred? Sensei taught that many people?"

"I suppose. He spared the kids when the rest of them went down."

"What did I say about bad memories?"

"No apologies."

"Jerk. Thank you," she stuffed her prized reward from the merchant into a pouch she made from the scraps of her clothing, and began heading back to Kimiko's house to give them some money for their troubles. She paused briefly before walking off the boardwalk. "Do they… do all of you think of me so badly, because I didn't come back?"

"Don't think you're some celebrity, being his last student. I'll be here all day. You better come back before noon, or else you'll pay, and dearly." The boy stalked off, leaving the girl an unsettling feeling. She made a life-saving decision by taking a detour.

"HMM. SHE FOUND HERSELF a nice place, doncha think?" crackled a young, wild boy. The lunatic beside him bobbed his head continuously. So this is the place she decided to hide for awhile at. "Let's see how nice it'll be after we're through with it." The boy stared up at the sky, the high sun not blinding him the slightest. Noontime already. "Do we have permission to go ahead?" The lunatic bobbed his head furiously again, and the boy chuckled in a low, malicious tone. "Let's have our fun."

* * *

WITH AN EXTREMELY FORTUNATE stroke of luck, the "ocean visitor" went into the forest on a whim to gather herbs, which could have been one of the best decisions in her life, unbeknownst to her. She doubted that Kimiko had gathered herbs for her; for all she knew, Kimiko had no idea that she was leaving today, despite the fish she gutted and cleaned for them. At first, it was fair to say the "ocean visitor" was utterly confused as to why she bothered trying to gather herbs; she was never the one to keep an eye out for detail, never mind keep track of what herbs were helpful, and what herbs were harmful. This was one of her many failures she had learned she could not counter.

Slightly dispirited at the remembrance of her failures, she headed back to Kimiko's home, only to find it not the way she had left it. "What the hell…?" Pulling the loose strap of her makeshift knapsack over her shoulder, she leapt down to the flaming shelter, or, rather, what was left of it. The shelter had become a magnificent flame of varying colors, and the wood was probably burning down fast. Entry was only for fools; that was clear. Never quite the hero, she doubted she could have gone inside to see if Kimiko, Fuyaku, and their son were alright. Luckily, but unfortunately, the fact no cries erupted from the licking flames meant only the worst; but she could take an alternative method. Trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, she summoned her chakra to her fingertips, and tried her first jutsu in weeks. It almost felt like learning to walk again, she realized. "Ninpou: Chakra Type Absorption!" The jutsu proved to do little; the flames only moved a little due to the sudden output of chakra, nothing more. "Not ninjutsu…? Maybe a forbidden technique." Had the Akatsuki come by, attempting to assassinate her? How was that even possible? No one knew _she_, the real her, was alive. No one knew her name, her past history, where she came… "…from." Her eyes widen with shock; her sensei was looking for her, wasn't he? "You've got to be fricken kidding me," she half muttered to herself.

It was a nightmare, the feeling of helplessness washing over her. First her clan perished in a fire; now this innocent family would share the same fate. Did she leave a path of destruction, wherever she treaded? One thing, she knew for sure; a getaway was top priority. There was no way she was going to take the blame for these murders. She spun on her heels, prepared to take a quick flight down south. The plan immediately failed, an unfamiliar bunch of berries rolling to her feet. Afraid, she slowly looked up. Kimiko seemed to barely comprehend what she was seeing; her eyes bore straight past the "ocean visitor," at the hungry flames consuming her home. Her green eyes briefly washed over her guest, her mouth still slightly agape. The "ocean visitor" wasted no time in launching herself to the boardwalk, where she could easily be lost amongst the hundreds of busy and unconcerned consumers and merchants.

* * *

"WHO THE HELL DO you think you are, jackass?" The boy from earlier this morning, with features so similar to her sensei, briefly looked up from his newspaper, acting calm and uncaring despite the many glances of confusion, anger, and annoyance heading their way. The "ocean visitor" took a seat across from him without asking. He simply returned to reading, taking a moment to whisper, "It's after noon. Lucky for you, I found quite the interesting article."

"You think this is some sort of game? What, is this chess to you? Do you think that pawns can be so easily replaced? They had lives, idiot! They were innocent, good people!" she hissed, grabbing his cup of tea and splashing it at his face, but, as expected, severely missed. He glared in return, ignoring the searing heat on his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

"'You better come back before noon, or else you'll pay, and dearly,' remember?"

He glanced at her again. "What, do you have a sound recorder in your head? Of course I remember. How else was I supposed to coerce you into coming before noon? Sitting around here is not quite entertaining. The stench is unbearable!"

"I'm talking about the family who lived a bit down that way. The one I was staying with."

"Oh, Kimiko?"

"Yes, jackass!"

"Will you cease with your unruly insults? You're a girl." Folding his soggy newspaper, he ordered more tea, for himself, without bothering to ask the "ocean visitor" if she should like some as well. "Anyhow, what about Kimiko? I have yet to meet her."

"Well, gee, I guess you're not going to meet her family either. They're only, you know, _dead_."

His mouth formed into a small o, the steam from the freshly poured tea briefly providing a wall between them. "And you think I killed them, because I said you would pay dearly?"

"Of course, genius."

"I had nothing to do with that. Perfectly honest."

"_Right_." An uncomfortable silence fell like a thin layer of snow in the early morning of a cold winter day. It was quite clear what question was to come next, almost making it seem unnecessary for him to have to ask at all.

Downing the last drops of his tea, he rolled up the newspaper and whacked the "ocean visitor's" head and shook his head in a "follow me" kind of way. She groaned, forcing herself to her feet; they barely touched the grass of the forest before chakra was fueled into them, simply to catch up to the boy. She noted, with uncontrollable jealousy, that he was much faster than her; it was clear that little effort was being put in his current pace. Though her feet felt like they were about to fall off cleanly any moment, she continued to run behind him without complaint, in fear of showing weakness. He pulled to an abrupt halt, much relief to her. Shrugging off his sleeveless cloak, he tossed it at her head. "Take off that rag of a shirt, and put my jacket on. Don't ruin it, I want it back. The base is a little ways in this direction. Do you think your pathetic body can keep up until then?" She merely scowled, and with little time to protest, she quickly discarded her shirt and pulled the jacket on as she hurried to catch up. A giant tree came into view, the boy at the base of the tree, his thumb bleeding profusely as he scribbled a series of illiterate symbols on the tree. Without bothering to wait or ask, he grabbed her arm, and she was suddenly seeing a blur of colors. The end of their strange journey came with the girl on the floor, catching her breath, while he simply was taking a few extra breaths.

What she found was transcended the significance of breathtaking.

* * *

HARUNO SAKURA KNEW SHE had it coming. She did not even protest, simply regressing back to her side of the bed while Hinata sat on the other side of her. "Tell me, Hinata. Am I a shame to Konoha?" Sakura asked quietly with some hesitation.

Hinata shook her head furiously. "I don't think so."

Sakura scoffed, "No one has told you what a bad influence I am?"

"No. There are only the other two of us…"

"It's hard to imagine. That Yamato-sempai or Sai don't think badly of me."

Hinata took in a deep breath and attempted to start afresh. "So, I think you know what I came for. We need to know. Yamato-taichou said you had a child. We need to know what happened. Chances are your child will be killed. We want to make sure he or she is safe."

"Do you know the father?"

"We have our suspicions. Sasori and Deidara delivered you to us, so it must be one of them. Yamato-taichou and Sai-kun think it's Deidara of the Akatsuki, because he's pretty handsome and, well, more human, but I think it's Akasuna no Sasori."

Sakura smiled. "Then you would be right. How did you know?"

"Because I know you, Sakura! Now, please, tell me. Tell me what happened."

Sakura exhaled loudly, her weary eyes barely staying open. "I did something stupid." After a few minutes, she added, "What I hate is that, if I could redo everything, I don't think I would have changed a thing." They found themselves slowly leaning back until they were both fully lying on the dirty quilt; and thus, Sakura delved into a past she did not wish to remember.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Please review! On a side note, just because I know people do not like mary sues, no, Kimiko's house did not burn down because of Saori's prescence.


	3. Unwanted Memories

**Author's Note:** Yup, early :3 I don't want to upload it tomorrow XD

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto!

* * *

**Chapter Two **Unwanted Memories

_WITH A LOUD YAWN, the pink-haired kunoichi of Konohagakure met the new day with a smile plastered on her face. After a few basic stretches and wiping the tiredness from her eyes, she prepared herself for border patrol with Hinata Hyuuga and Inuzuka Kiba. Thinking of her current team, her mind wandered to the old Team Seven. Uchiha Sasuke seemed to always be out of her reach, just at her fingertips. And Uzumaki Naruto? He was so powerful now, leagues ahead of her. She shuddered, remembering Naruto's new Rasen-shuriken technique. That Akatsuki… Kakuzu, was it? His body was torn to shreds, with no hope of repair. _And where am I amongst those two? I never seem to be strong enough, no matter how much I train, or who I train with.

_She stared at herself in the mirror, glancing over the little changes that had occurred over the years. Frowning, something out of place caught her eye. Was that… "It can't be…" She turned around, eyeliner in hand and ready to stab a certain deceased redhead in the eyes. To her relief, only her yellow walls stared back at her._

Why on _earth _am I thinking of that puppet freak Sasori? I definitely need more sleep when I imagine of _him_ instead of Sasuke. _Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice noted she dropped the honorific she usually used for Sasuke. It was drowned out by memories of her first serious encounter with a real Akatsuki. Her fight with Chiyo, Sasori's grandmother, against Akasuna no Sasori was so long ago, which did nothing to explain why was he coming back to haunt her now. She vividly remembered the sudden widening of his brown eyes, full with the emotion of shock, the sudden jerking that caused his soft, luscious looking red hair to - _What the _hell _am I thinking? _Sakura hissed to herself. She glanced up at her mirror again. Her hand immediately flew up to her cheek, as if she was trying to cover the pink tinge that had washed over her cheeks, but the tinge only darkened in hue. _

_Sakura gripped the edge of her dresser tightly, slightly in anger at herself, slightly at something else. Okay, she'd admit it, Sasori was attractive. _Was_. She was absolutely sure he was dead. Thinking back on the peculiar way in which he died, her sureness began to falter. She hadn't dealt the fatal blow. She couldn't be sure he was dead. She had no idea how Sasori functioned, no way to make sure he truly _was_ dead. Sasori's death was the work of Chiyo, with Sasori's first two puppets - that of his mother and father. And what was with the strange black markings on the floor when Chiyo stabbed Sasori's heart in about six different points? Chiyo said it would refrain him from movement, yet wasn't he able to move his head? Sasori was Chiyo's grandson…_

"_Oh, no, no, no, Sakura, don't you _dare_ think that Chiyo faked Sasori's death to save him. Do _not_ think that!" she muttered to herself. Flustered, she matted down her stray pink hairs, and bolted out of her apartment, not wanting to face that demented mirror of hers. It was playing tricks on her, she knew, that evil thing! All she wanted was to go on her mission to get the puppet off of her mind. She stopped at the entrance to the large Hyuuga compound, near the heart of Konoha, nearly running into Kiba and his best mate and dog, Akamaru. Sakura frowned, "Where's Hinata?"_

"_She's feeling a bit sick, so we're going on our border patrol tomorrow. They've called for the Hyuuga medic to go and check on her. She looked really awful. I hope she'll be alright…" Sakura smiled. Kiba was such a fool. How could he not see that he liked Hinata? Suddenly, he brightened up. "Hey, want to go to the Yamanaka flower shop with me? So you can help me haggle with Ino about the prices?" he joked. Sakura nodded, and two made their way to Ino's family's store. The two of them – three including Akamaru – entered the shop and found Ino half asleep at the cash register._

"_Oi, Ino-pig, we could have robbed you and you would have had no idea," Sakura laughed, poking her best friend. Ino groaned something unintelligible and swatted Sakura's hand away, slowly opening her blue eyes._

"_What are you two doing here?" she snapped, straightening out her outfit and hair._

"_Hinata's sick. I want to get her some flowers, but I just have no idea what to choose. How about a rose? People always get them in those cheesy TV shows," said Kiba, kneeling to inspect the flowers. Ino laughed, walking around the counter. _

"_Yes, silly, but you don't give a sick person flowers unless you're professing your undying love to them… _while_ he or she is sick. Here, take these." She handed Kiba a pretty bouquet of flowers. "I made that myself," she added proudly._

"_So how much will this be…?"_

"_Two hundred forty ryo," Ino replied._

"_Ouch, you charge a high price!"_

_Ino sighed, glancing at Sakura, who, she noticed, seemed to be off in her own little world, "Fine, I'll cut it to two hundred ryo."_

"_I was joking, Yamanaka. I don't want to skimp out on getting something for Hinata. Here you go." Kiba fished for money in his pocket, and set it on the counter. Feeling a little guilty, Ino gave him a vase to put the flowers in. When Kiba questioned her, she simply said, "Gift to a friend. Is there something wrong with that?" Kiba had flashed her a heart-warming grin and replied, "I didn't know I had such good-looking friends. See ya!" Ino sighed, twirling a strand of loose blonde hair around her fingers._

"_He's such a cutie, isn't he, Billboard-Brow?" she smiled to herself. After a few minutes of silence, the blonde girl realized she was left unheard. Ino tried to glare at her best friend, but couldn't help but smile, seeing that Sakura was in a blissful looking trance. "Oi, Billboard-Brow, Kiba's mine!" she exclaimed, jabbing Sakura in the side._

"_Huh?" she asked, clearing her head. "What about Kiba?"_

"_Never mind about that, I was just saying that in hopes to get a reply from you. Dreaming about Kiba, huh? Do I sense Sakura is a little envious of Hinata?" Sakura frowned, as if Ino began speaking in a foreign language._

"_What on earth are you talking about?"_

"_Weren't you daydreaming about Kiba-kun?"_

"_No… what makes you think that?"_

"_Well, you were only in a trance, dummy."_

"_Oh. I wasn't thinking about him."_

"_Oh reaaaallly?"_

"_Yeah! It was someone else - " Sakura's green eyes widened a fraction before a sigh of defeat escaped her lips. It was a minor slip up, but it was too late to cover it up. Judging from the devious look in Ino's expression, Sakura would not be hearing the end of it._

"_So you were thinking about _'someone,'_ huh? Who is it? And if you say Sasuke, I'm going to punch you in the face myself!" Ino huffed playfully. Sakura didn't respond in the way she had hoped, but, instead, she blushed a little._

"_No, Ino-pig, I was not daydreaming about Sasuke. Don't worry about it. How about we go out for lunch? What do you say?" Sakura asked, hoping Ino would just drop the subject._

"_I'll only go with you if you tell me who you were thinking of. It's a definitely a guy. Is he cute?" Sakura glanced at Ino. The medic-nin sighed, running her hand through her pink hair. She wanted to tell someone, but, how could she explain it? First, she was the only one alive who had seen Sasori's real body. Well, at least of those in Konoha. And the moment she mentioned that Sasori was good-looking, Ino would bug her to no end to learn just how good-looking Sasori was. But she desperately wanted to tell someone._

"_Okay, fine." Sakura hesitantly gave in, making Ino frown and raise an eyebrow._

"_The Sakura I know and love doesn't give in so easily… who are you?"_

_Sakura chuckled, "It's me, no worries. This… is just stressing me out a bit and I want to talk to someone about it. But please promise me you won't bug me to tell you how hot this guy is, alright?" Ino squealed upon hearing 'hot' and instantly grabbed both of Sakura's hands energetically._

"_Who is it, who is it?"_

"_Ino, this is _not_ about a _crush_! This is _serious_! This could potentially be_ life threatening_!" Sakura yelled the last part a little too loudly, as some of the villagers within hearing range paused their actions. Dropping into a whisper, she said, "Okay, you know that Akatsuki Chiyo-baasama and I fought?" Ino eagerly nodded. "His name was Akasuna no Sasori. And I got to see his real face."_

_Ino squealed again. "And is he hot?"_

_Sakura failed to meet Ino's gaze as she continued, "Well, yeah, his face is beautiful… _really_ beautiful, but his body… please, the moment you see his body – I mean, if you had seen his body – you'd scream and run."_

"_So, what's the problem? Dreaming about dead guys is a little strange, but I'll deal for now."_

"_Well," Sakura whispered, "that's what's troubling me. I thought I saw Sasori in my mirror this morning, even though he wasn't even there. And I found myself blushing upon the thought of him. I'm getting those weird feelings that he's alive and he's ready to completely obliterate Konoha."_

"_You'd better tell the Fifth Hokage, then," Ino replied, her face suddenly serious with concern._

"_Do you know how crazy I sound? Seeing a _dead man_ in my _mirror_? There are_ no_ such things as ghosts, Ino!" Her frantic reply was met with little sympathy._

"_You either risk Konoha's safety or keep it to yourself. What can I do?" Sakura sighed, knowing Ino was right. Neither of them could really do anything. It wasn't like Tsunade could just increase the defenses by tenfold just because of an illusion with such high demand of ninja for missions._

_Running her hand through her hair again, she decided, "I'll keep it to myself. If I still feel this way by tomorrow, I'll tell Tsunade-sama, and she can take care of it. Maybe I'm just not getting enough sleep. Maybe I should get a new mattress."_

_Ino smiled again, before adding, "That sounds good with me. Oh, by the way, I lied about the lunch. I've got to cover the shop until my parents get back. Sorry, Forehead." Sakura smiled, and called, "Bye!" before stepping out into the town again. She chuckled, seeing that Naruto was already at Ichiraku Ramen shop. She hesitated, deciding whether to step into the shop or not. Sighing, she turned right to her own apartment, away from Naruto. She just needed a little time alone, for now. If only she could be on that mission right now, her thoughts wouldn't be able to eat away at her. _Chiyo-baasama… You would never pretend to kill Sasori, would you, even if you knew he was such a threat?

* * *

_IF SAKURA HAD KNOWN then just how real her fears were, she just might have dropped dead. The said Akatsuki that had come to haunt her at the oddest of times was currently pacing around in the mountainous area near Iwagakure no Sato, Rock Country. Since his return, he had received his old obnoxious partner, Deidara, who had been gone for _two hours_ already. __"Damned blonde…" Sasori had no idea what was so important that he had to go during a mission. __Deidara, as a natural daredevil, had no fears about strolling into the village he was named a traitor to, where he was wanted for deception amongst other things; he usually did these types of things on his own time, hardly ever on missions. Sasori had a nagging feeling that he had lost respect since his death. _

_Nonetheless, Sasori gave Deidara an hour, which was quite generous of the puppet. The pyromaniac's little adventure was making Sasori's patience run more than just short, and the puppet master was tempted to leave, but, to his dismay and embarrassment, he had doubts that he could accomplish this mission without Deidara's help. _Thirty more minutes, Deidara. There's too much risk to be roaming around your old home village much longer.

_The pyromaniac strolled around his old home town, his own patience wearing thin. It had been two hours now, and he was simply fed up between knowing Sasori would explode on him later – Deidara grinned, thinking of what a nice, beautiful explosion of fire and wood that would be – and trying to find the apartment he was looking for – his old apartment._

_It had been, what, three or four years since he left this wretched place? And it had already changed so much? He was positive his apartment wasn't abandoned, because he distinctly remembered giving a lost child his home, since she was evicted from her old one. Did she leave his apartment, once she found out about why he no longer needed the apartment? "One more try, hmm," he muttered to himself. "Jackpot." He was right; the young girl she had given his apartment to three years ago hadn't moved a thing – not even his clothes. He was sure she still leaved here, though. The smell that naturally was her still lingered in the air, and it was fresh._

_Grinning to himself, he scribbled a note and placed it on her –once his – bed. _Tsk, tsk. I would've never guessed a girl lived here in this mess._ He used a clay bird to hold his note down and continued his way through his old home, snacking on a fruit left on her kitchen table. Chuckling, curiosity won over as he went through her clothes, most of which was in a big heap on a chair_. Seems like something she'd wear._ He snatched one of her underwear, a smug grin on his face, retrieved one of his old scrolls, which was his one of his original objectives of going into the town he despised, and strolled out the door calmly – just in time, in fact. He lifted the hood of his casual wear as he walked down the stairs as a black-haired teenage girl walked up groceries in tow. Deidara dared to meet eye contact. He didn't recognize the mid-length black hair that flowed behind her in two neat ponytails or the gold eyes that pierced right back at him with suspicion. He had no recollection of just what eye colors the kid he had met years ago had, so there was no way to be sure. He swiped yet another piece of fruit from her grocery bag, causing her to stop and glare at the back of his retreating head_. …Jerk,_ she thought._

_She did not have much time to gawk at his rudeness as her door eerily opened on its own. The girl, Sora, frowned, remembering that she had purposely left her windows shut and her fan off. The blood drained from her face when she assumed one of the worst. _Oh, no, that jerk did not just break in, did he?_ Dropping everything in her hands, she ran back down the staircase, quickly leaping to the roof of the apartment building from the outside. After searching for awhile, she realized, to her dismay, that he was no longer in the district. He was probably out of Iwa by now, Iwa still being a relatively small village._

_Walking back in to her room, she found a scrap of paper on her bed, held down by an innocent looking sparrow sculpture. She picked up the note, reading, "Yo. I just needed to grab some old stuff. Cute underwear." She spun around to face her messy dresser and glared at nothing in particular, seeing as he had left another scrap of paper in her underwear drawer. This note contained no kanji, just a hastily drawn smiley face. She picked up the original note, and continued, "'P.S… the bird explodes__ ' Ack!" She jumped upon the detonation of the clay sculpture on her bed, leaving her blanket and flames. Oh, she couldn't _wait_ to get her hands around this jerk'__s throat.

* * *

_

"_YOU'RE LATE."_

"_WAY TO state the obvious, hmm," Deidara retorted to his calm partner, Akasuna no Sasori. Sasori's almost always unchanging doll face made him a difficult read, but Deidara had experience. Underneath the calm, picturesque face, Sasori was seething in anger both from having to wait in slight anxiety and from Deidara's brash remark._

"_Let's go," the puppet hissed. One of the few things Deidara learned he appreciated about his puppet-partner was that Sasori did not ask questions. If Sasori was not interested, Sasori simply didn't bother with it. Even if Deidara was holding a piece of underwear in his hands._

_Complying without complaint (and also knowing his sparrow bomb was not unheard), the two criminals took fled through the mountains, seeking the cover of the forest at Iwa's edge, but not soon enough. Kunai flew at them with no warning, no telltale ringing of metal. "Damn!" growled Deidara, ignoring the gnawing pain at his side as his hands molded clay birds. In just moments he sent them flying and exploding, careful to keep Sasori out of the list of casualties. Deidara always wanted to know what would happen if he lit a match on Sasori, but now was not the ideal time to find out. _

"_Deidara, you idiot!" snapped Sasori, clearly annoyed to be breaking out his puppets so soon. It was too close for Sasori's combat style. They needed a getaway, and quick. Deidara set about trying to form their transportation while working on the offensive side of things as Sasori dealt with the defense as best as the limited space could. Sasori's expression hardened when he felt four more chakra signatures incoming at a fast pace. They were going to be trapped if Deidara didn't hurry. As much as Sasori wanted to yell at the whelp to quicken his work, he restrained himself, knowing it would be of no help and a waste of breath. Sasori's death had not gone without consequence. Surely, he was alive and was still functioning, but there had been devastating changes to his body. Now, he actually needed to breathe. He had yet to know if he would experience pain as well. Inside, he hoped he wouldn't find out now, not exactly wanting to know what it was like to turn into splinters._

"_It's all over for you, Deidara," teased a light female voice. Deidara's eyes flashed to its owner, who was two arm lengths away. Why wouldn't his bird form properly? "It's genjutsu, silly. I know you stink at it. So I worked on it!" _

_Deidara's eyes widened furthermore when a chuunin collided to his side, quickly detaining him. "Deidara!" Sasori yelled out of habit before he, too, was detained, much to his surprise. Was he _that_ out of practice?_

_The woman who cast the genjutsu leaned closely to Deidara's face, her breath tickling his skin. "We've got a lot in store for you, Deidara. You've always been a daredevil, but you just ran out of luck, huh?"_

"_Shut it, Kurotsuchi," Deidara gritted through clenched teeth. Kurotsuchi snorted before knocking the lights out.

* * *

_

_A CONTENT SIGH WAS achieved by the mouthwatering smell of freshly made ramen noodles. Today, Umino Iruka was treating the one and only Uzumaki Naruto to a bowl of the seafood ramen special. Of course, a bowl had been the intention, but by the time Iruka had finished his first bowl of pork ramen at the Ichiraku shop, Naruto was already finishing his fourth bowl of the seafood ramen special._

"_So, Naruto, how's training with Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-sensei?" Iruka asked just as a fifth steaming bowl of ramen was placed in front of Naruto, as ordered. The aid blonde ninja grinned happily, beads of sweat from training still present._

"_Hehe, it was awesome! I cut an entire forest all by myself, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, the ramen disappearing into his mouth at an alarming rate. Iruka smiled at his ex-student. Sure, Naruto was a giant headache as the class clown five or so years ago, but now Iruka was starting to miss Naruto dearly._

_Chuckling, Iruka replied, "Alright, Naruto. You'd better train hard tomorrow, you hear? Konoha's children depend on it!"_

"_Yup, yup, you got it, dattebayo! Good night, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto hollered, waving a farewell as he ran to his apartment for some rest._

"_Yeah, good night," Iruka said, mostly to himself as he watched Naruto's orange clothed back retreat._

"_Um, sir? Here's the bill. Please, _please_ do come back again," smiled the shop owner, leaving Iruka with a bill far too large for a chuunin' salary._

"_NARUTO!"

* * *

_

_PINK STREAKS PAINTED ITSELF across the morning's gray skies in the Village Hidden in the Stones. The morning was quite unpleasant, as fourteen-year-old "Ootowari" Sora woke up in her apartment. Her body ached from yesterday morning's duel with her teammate, Ootowari Toyotomi, whose family name she had taken on simply for registration purposes. After having displayed almost all the jutsu she knew during the third exam of the Chuunin exams in her fight against Rock Lee from the ever prosperous Konohagakure no Sato, instead of achieving the Chuunin title, she was placed on the "Chuunin Waiting list" upon the orders of the Tsuchikage. No one from the Tsuchikage's Board of Advisors wanted to promote Sora._

_Though she despised almost everyone from Iwa, especially its Board of Advisors, she really couldn't blame them for not trusting her. After all, she was not born from Iwa, or had any previous affiliation with Iwa, not to mention that she had come with a strange hair color and a stranger chakra elemental affiliation for Iwa. She was naturally a redhead, uncommon in Iwa, but one day through Iwa's training academy and she had dyed her hair black. So that left Sora on the Chuunin Waiting List – a list no other shinobi village had – at least, yet. Those who received the abominable fate of being on the Chuunin Waiting List would become a Chuunin when there was a mass shortage of them or they had proven worthy through military achievements. It was an awful concept, as those on the list secretly wished death upon his higher ranked colleagues. However, Iwa chuunin simply _did not die.

_But instead of Sora's chakra type being a gift to the Tsuchikage, her abilities were mostly entertainment to the Iwa leader. Not just hers – he used Toyotomi's for entertainment, too. The Tsuchikage received much enjoyment through watching his grandnephew, Toyotomi, and Sora fight. Even though two had fought numerous times, the Tsuchikage never got bored of watching the two "play ninja," as the Tsuchikage had put it. He claimed it was to "assess the future of Iwagakure" but Sora felt it served the purpose of keeping the old man awake._

_Yesterday's fight had been far more brutal that usual. Both Sora and Toyotomi had always restrained from using powerful techniques that the Tsuchikage was dying to see; neither one wanted to fully reveal their abilities yet. Toyotomi and their sensei, a jounin named Mikaiyo, along with countless other shinobi were constantly keeping tabs on her, just waiting for her to show traitorous colors. She didn't understand why they thought she was a spy – after all, when she had arrived in Iwa in the dead of the winter, she was but a child and had hardly left the village since. _Perhaps it's because you won't tell them where you came from, _a quiet voice from the back of her mind suggested. Well, that much was true. She refused to tell anyone where she hailed from, why she had left._

_Regardless, she and her aching body fully and clearly understood that Toyotomi had gotten stronger. The only explanation she could derive from his sudden display of power was that the Tsuchikage was going to choose his heir soon. Sora had always firmly believed that Toyotomi would be the one, the given. _He's made from a different bolt of cloth from the rest of them,_ she smiled inwardly to herself before stopping when she realized she was doing so. _I _really_ have to stop doing that.

_Her side groaned in protest as she reached towards the end of her bed for her quilt, only to remember that she threw it out yesterday. What was she to do with a quilt with a giant singed hole in it? "Damn… that SOB has one heck of a kick," she muttered, an annoyance still lingering from her intruder yesterday.  
_

_Stretching her aching body, she rose in time with the sun. _Oh, darn it… solo border patrol today. _To say Sora was always doing solo border patrol wasn't entirely true, she had to admit. Mikaiyo, Toyotomi, and her last teammate, Watanabe Kaino, went on border patrol with her, but they had a tendency to isolate themselves from her. Well, it was mostly just Toyotomi who did that, seeing as they were always partnered off together._

_It was not that Mikaiyo favored Kaino over Toyotomi and Sora – in fact, Sora suspected that Mikaiyo would take Sora or Toyotomi any day over Kaino. Her excessive protection earned her bonuses from the Watanabe family, the second most prosperous family in Iwa behind the Ootowari Family. Kaino was the sole heir to the Watanabe Family Enterprises, and therefore Mikaiyo always had to babysit him for the heir's safety. So, when the cell split for efficiency, Mikaiyo always paired off with Kaino, which left Toyotomi with Sora. Since the last Chuunin Exams, Toyotomi had accepted that Sora was a better shinobi than most Iwa girls - Sora's heart swelled at hearing this - but Toyotomi still liked to keep a good distance ahead of her. Part of her wished to believe he was afraid of her. Sora smiled at herself at the thought._

_Having eaten, cleaned up, and dressed, Sora closed her borrowed apartment's door and jumped on the rooftops to the village's gates. As usual, Toyotomi was stretching as he waited. Kaino was always late, and Mikaiyo always had to escort him. The two usually were late by half an hour or so, which left Sora half an hour of awkward silence with Toyotomi. At the beginning, she always had hoped in her mind for Mikaiyo and Kaino to hurry, but she realized not too long ago she stopped doing that - and that sometimes she felt as though Mikaiyo came too early. Today would be no different. "Ohayo, Toyotomi-san," Sora greeted with one of the fakest smiles she had ever mustered._

"_Morning," he muttered as per usual._

"_Now, Toyotomi-kun, it's alright to hold conversation with those incredibly out of style," corrected the always strutting Kaino. Mikaiyo strode beside him. Her hardened expression and quick arrival to the designated meeting spots should have indicated that something serious was to occur today, but it passed Sora by._

"_Sora, do something about that hair of yours. At the length, it'll do nothing but whip you in your own face. And your despicable outfit. It is indecent in the warrior code," berated Mikaiyo. Toyotomi snorted, though did not put his own two cents, glancing at Sora's ensemble. Sora had mid-length hair tied into two pigtails that had the tendency to get in the way from its continually swaying back and forth. And, to Mikaiyo's disgust, she wore shorts that by all means could be longer. It seemed of the fashion when she had come here, so she had followed in suit, not bothering to squander her funds on new outfits to match changing trends. Toyotomi silently noted in his head that he rather liked the shortness of her shorts. "Let's move out."_

_It always started this way; Sora would greet Toyotomi, he would return the favor with boredom, Mikaiyo and Kaino would arrive, Mikaiyo would complain about her attire, and they would leave. For the first few minutes, Sora would be able to keep up with the other three, but as soon as Mikaiyo and Kaino branched off, Toyotomi would accelerate to what seemed like tenfold._

_Sora smiled. As of recent, he'd leave signs of where he went so she could follow. She never once questioned him, but today, she would. Her smile quickly faded away as she pulled to a sudden halt. There were two kunai slashes on two different trees going in different directions; the one going to the right was the path they normally took; the path going straight had an extremely fresh slash. Hesitantly, she continued straight, worry spreading across her face. _If we continue in this direction, in a minute we'll hit the Kusa border. _But there were still fresh kunai slash marks on this path, so she followed them for a half hour or so with no sign of him. "What are you thinking, Toyotomi?"_

_She halted again. What if Toyotomi had distracted her with a clone in an attempt to separate them? "What a SOB," she muttered, having no shame for her foul language. Just as she was about to turn around and retreat, a trickle of a chakra signature caught her attention. She smirked. Toyotomi was done for trying to trick her.

* * *

_

_BEADS OF SWEAT GLISTENED on the large forehead of the Konoha kunoichi. She had been on border patrol with Kiba and Ino, seeing as Hinata was still ill. Sakura left her boy-chasing best friend to pair off, favoring solo patrolling in Fire Country's northwest border, covering the border of the Hidden Grass Village, Kusagakure no Sato, and the Hidden Rain Village, Amegakure no Sato. Both countries were generally quiet neighbors, posing no threat. Little did Konoha and Sakura know, the current world's two most powerful shinobi sat in the highest tower of Ame._

_Continuing her patrol, she found little to entertain and satisfy her boredom. She was slightly annoyed that a shinobi of her caliber was stuck with border patrol while Naruto was off, probably having a grand time with Jiraiya and Kakashi. The awful feeling that had risen from the depths of her mind yesterday was coming back stronger than ever. The mission she would have loved to have done yesterday did little to appease her anxiety. The bad feeling was only intensifying. _

_She was at the thinnest part of Kusa that separated the hostile territories of Iwa from Konoha, considered to be the most dangerous part of the Northwestern section, and therefore was frequented by two patrol groups instead of just one. Iwa shinobi were known to have incredible stamina and diligence, so the distance in this part of Kusa could easily be covered by Iwa shinobi in the space of one hour at most. Iwa's elite most definitely could cover it well under half an hour._

_Suddenly, a kunai spun through the foliage in front of her, from the direction of Kusa. Had she trespassed? Quickly, she ran east, hoping to find Ino and Kiba, but more weapons were thrown at her from the east and now south. Which left her one option; go north, where she would definitely be trespassing into Kusa territory. "Ow!" she hissed; a shuriken had nicked her shoulder. Leaking out her chakra, she searched for her predators with no success, causing her to frown. Was she being forced to head north…? She didn't have time to think it through sensibly as much as she would have liked to, as even a greater number of projectiles were heading her way with lethal accuracy. Pumping chakra into her legs, she bolted northwest, into Kusa territory_

Alright, _she thought to herself, quickly forming a sign to create a clone. _I'll throw them off with a doppelganger, use the replacement jutsu, loop back to Konoha, and report. _She veered slightly to the left, intending to loop back through Bird Country territory. Glancing to her left, she nearly lost her footing. She had caught a glimpse of one of her chasers - an older woman with short brown hair, a malicious glare, and a brown jounin vest. _Iwa… Oh shit, I'm screwed. _Sakura was still only a chuunin; she didn't stand against a jounin, never mind one from Iwa!_

_Focusing chakra into her ears, she caught pieces of conversation. "… Kaino, be careful… I'll be right there… just need to get this one into Iwa… get the other two…" Sakura nearly froze. What was Iwa up to, and why didn't Kusa stop them? Sakura didn't know what lay ahead of her in Iwa, but she prayed that only one of their other teammates (so she assumed) would find her if any. She was in a world of trouble, anyhow; she had no idea which way was Bird Country.

* * *

_

_SORA SMILED TO HERSELF; her trap was well laid out, well hidden, and covered a large area. Toyotomi would never maneuver around this; the trap was so large he wouldn't see it. She chuckled, wondering how he could even get out of _this_ mother trap. Not even two minutes after the trap's completion, the trap caught its fly. Sora laughed again. Was that Toyotomi she heard, screaming like a girl?

* * *

_

_TOYOTOMI STOPPED IN HIS tracks, hand already flying to his kunai. He had heard a girl's scream, but, having never heard Mikaiyo's or Sora's scream, did not know who it belonged to. Rushing to the scene, he soon felt the chakra signature of Sora and a stranger, Mikaiyo's coming up fast. The young Ootowari frowned. Sora wasn't fighting the stranger. "Shit, Sora, what the hell are you trying to do?" hissed Toyotomi, throwing projectiles in Mikaiyo's direction. As expected, it only slowed Mikaiyo by a half-step; maybe, Toyotomi hoped, that was all Sora needed to get her senses back.

* * *

_

_MIKAIYO PAUSED, HEARING A girl's scream not a minute after chasing the Konoha girl into Iwa. _Toyotomi has always been impressive_, Mikaiyo inwardly smirked._ _For a moment, she was going back to deal with the other two Konoha nin, but decided against it. The mission required one Konoha hostage, so she ought to make sure the target was safely in Konohagakure before gathering the bonuses._

_Just after mere seconds of tree-hopping, projectiles came her way. She deflected each with ease; their owner was what baffled her. "What are you up to, Toyotomi?" She knew full well Toyotomi was not the kind who would be vulnerable to commit such silly mistakes - it was the kind of thing Sora would do. "And if -" Could Sora have taken out the Konoha nin? By herself? Or was that Sora's scream? She felt two chakra signatures up ahead, aside from Toyotomi's, but it was only now did she realize there was no fighting occurring. Did another Konoha nin sneak by and kill Sora?_

_Mikaiyo snorted, seeing as she didn't believe that was impossible. Rumor was that Sora showed hidden strength during the Chuunin Exams, in which Mikaiyo did not bother to see. Kaino was forbidden entry because of his role in Iwa's upper class society, Sora's failure or success she had no interest in, and Mikaiyo knew Toyotomi would definitely become a Chuunin, in which, her assumption had been correct. Still, even after hearing congratulations about Sora from fellow impressed jounin, Mikaiyo found difficulty in believing Sora was useful or strong. Having tutored several Ootowari, three of them being prodigies, who could blame her for having doubts? But now that there was cracks in her belief, maybe Sora was capable enough._

_On the topic of her students, Toyotomi appeared in front of the jounin. Though her face appeared impassive, Toyotomi knew she was watching him through suspicious eyes. "That was my bad, yeah," said Toyotomi, still blocking Mikaiyo's way. "Forgot to check the chakra sigs 'fore I chucked those shuriken."_

"_Yes, because the third Ootowari prodigy I've ever taught would be that foolish. Where is Sora? And the Konoha nin?" snapped Mikaiyo._

"_Konoha nin?" Mikaiyo glared at Toyotomi. She knew he loved challenges, but he had always been the "mission before all else" kind of guy. _He's up to something. But what does he have to hide?

"_I chased a pink-haired Konoha nin into Iwa. Now, move it."_

"_Oh? That must be the other chakra signature's owner up there. Seems as though Sora's got it covered, believe it or not. Let's get the teammates."_

"_Since when did you trust Sora?" Mikaiyo inquired. Toyotomi shrugged._

"_Seems like the situation is fine up there."_

"_Does she know about the mission?"_

"_Didn't you tell her?"_

"_Get out the way, Ootowari. Get back to Kaino." Mikaiyo sped past the chuunin, and Toyotomi shrugged again. Sora's business was Sora's business. He'd already stalled for Sora; that would just have to do. If she ran into trouble, he was sure his connections could get her out of it. At least, he hoped.

* * *

_

_DRAWING A KUNAI AND rushing towards her victim, Sora leapt down onto the struggling object wrapped in a net. "How does it feel, Toyo -" She stopped mid-sentence, gripping her kunai tighter and closer to her victim's throat. It had short pink hair, a red tank, and a pink medic apron. "Who… who are you, and why the hell are you here?" Sora snapped, glancing had the kunoichi's hitai-ate. _Konoha…? Toyotomi, what were you doing? Are Mikaiyo and Kaino in on this, too? Konoha's so far away, this can't be just a coincidence…

_Coughing, the victim, Sakura, replied, "It was your shitbag teammates that chased me here."  
_

"_Chased you? We would have to be in Kusa to do that."_

"_And they were. Your Jounin at least." Sora pulled back. She assumed that this was a regular border patrol, but was it more than that? How could Mikaiyo neglect to tell her, if this was true?_

"_How can I know if you're lying or not?"_

"_How about my lack of teammates? Konoha only has solo infiltrations for ANBU black ops. I'm a chuunin. My identification tag is in my medkit if you need to check." _

"_Get it out for me. And no funny business." Sora loosened some knots in the net, and Sakura pulled out the said item. _She really is only a Chuunin. She doesn't feel that powerful, either._ Sora sighed. Toyotomi and Mikaiyo would both escort Sakura to the Iwa prison hold, which Sora, too, would've done, but a nagging feeling poked at her stomach, telling her that perhaps there was foul play on Mikaiyo's part. Sighing, she finally came up with an ultimatum. "Fine, you can go. But be quick and quiet about it." With the excretion of a little chakra, the ropes were aflame, and Sakura was free, much to her surprise. The medic-nin stood up, then froze. "I said, hurry up!"  
_

"_Um…" Now it was Sora's turn to freeze. Another border patrol pair was standing behind Sakura._

"_Well, well, what do we have here, hmmm, Sora-chan?" teased the male of the pair._

"_A traitor is what we have here," said another deeper, colder voice. Sora paled, knowing exactly who said it, and who was behind her: Mikaiyo._

* * *

**Author's Note:** Please review!


	4. Saori

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto! Saori, other OCs, and plotline by me ^_^

* * *

**Chapter Three **Saori

"THAT'S HOW I LANDED in Iwa's prison. I could have fought my way out somehow, but I… didn't. Sora didn't even put up a fight, she just… gave up," Sakura continued as Hinata nodded understandingly. "After we escaped, Saori told me her side of the story. The way she talked about Toyotomi… I think why she did not fight had something to do with him…"

"I agree. Is that where you found Sasori?"

* * *

_SAKURA SLUMPED IN HER cell, staring dumbfounded at the inhabitant of the cell adjacent to hers. His red hair was unmistakable, as was his hardened but, dare she say, beautiful face. Those eerie feelings she had were not just random. HE was alive - He, Akasuna no Sasori. Sakura's heart pounded against her rib cage. He was just about as close to her as he could get, an irritable smirk on his face as he watched Sakura with piqued curiosity. She refused to meet those haunting brown eyes, favoring to stare at his bared chest. Her keen eyes picked out the faint grain of wood. His heart chamber was out of sight, as was the strange panel he had on his right breast, leaving his chest unmarked by any abnormalities. For a moment, he seemed human. As that moment fleeted away, she found herself replaying Sasori's death over and over in her head. If she could just touch his face, then she would know if her horror was true -_

"_You are not dreaming," he said all of a sudden. So he recognized her. Figured, he seemed quite an intellectual and Sakura's naturally pink hair was hard to forget. Especially if the owner of that pink hair killed you. Or tried to._

"_But… how…?" When he didn't respond, she figured it was a "not your business" kind of thing. Across the hall, the genin girl began to budge. Sakura's maternal instincts began to tug at her heart when she finished evaluating the damage done. Right away from her capture, Sakura had been placed in a holding cell; the female genin who had tried to save Sakura was taken elsewhere, which Sakura now concluded was an interrogation room for some sort of torture interrogation. Sakura was then moved to the bottom most floor of the underground prison, where she was now, Sasori and the female genin already there; it was a floor meant for the most fearsome and worst criminals, because of its highly defensive features. The female genin had cuts and bruises, but the damage didn't seem critical, much to Sakura's relief. She turned back to her own side of the hallway, where the relief was snatched right back out of her, her eyes glued to the neat but perfectly mussed red hair of the man she thought she helped kill._

_The only possible explanation for his return was: (A) that someone used a jutsu like that of Chiyo's which brought back the Kazekage, Gaara, to life, or (B) Chiyo hadn't really killed him. Sakura would never want to dishonor Chiyo's memory by accusing the elder of treason, but the thought couldn't help but sink in her mind. In actuality, if Sakura was not with Chiyo, there was no way she could have won against Sasori. Sakura had worn him down; Chiyo had killed him. And Sakura had no way of knowing if he was actually dead like he should have been. She guiltily swallowed her accusations. Maybe he might tell her something if she acted as if nothing happened, that she hadn't had a hand in his death. "Did they torture her?" _

"_What do you think?" Sasori responded with boredom. Sakura sighed in disappointment at her failed attempt, rebuking herself for asking such an obvious question that she had already answered herself just minutes ago. The Iwa government probably believed the girl was a spy for Konoha now. Espionage was one of the worse kinds of punishable treasons._

_Another try. "Where's your partner, the blonde?"_

"_Getting the same treatment." _Right! _thought Sakura. _Sasori's partner is also an Iwa fugitive. He was proven for serious treasonous actions against the state, and is an Akatsuki, an internationally wanted criminal with a large bounty on his head. He's probably getting the worst treatment out of us all! _Despite knowing he was an S-Rank criminal, Sakura found herself pitying the man who tried to kill her best friend, Uzumaki Naruto._

"_Wait, why aren't you…?"_

"_Because no one is foolish enough to bother." Sakura had figured that was so. Sasori was a puppet and therefore felt no pain. Torture would have been pointless on Iwa's part. Iwa soldiers seemed to be scarily efficient in the way they had captured her, in the way they had cornered the Iwa genin slumbering across the hall - everything, right down to how they had built a specially built cell personalized to counter Sakura's strengths in just a day. Speaking of which, she couldn't imagine a single way out of. Warily glancing at the Iwa genin and Sasori, she knew she would have to get over her differences and ask for their help. If only a little thing called pride would allow her to do so._

_It was another full day before anyone of significance came. They had given Sakura, Sasori, oddly enough, and the genin girl a piece of bread and a bowl of water, meant to last the entire day. Though her stomach protested, Sakura saved large chunks of her loaf of bread for the escape she was planning to make. Unexpectedly, an untouched loaf of bread rolled to her feet. She stared in disbelief at Sasori, who remained calmly impassive without a hint of emotion. "Save it. Deidara and she will need it.," Sasori ordered without glancing her way. So Sasori hadn't exactly had selfless intentions, but the fact that he had thought of Deidara's and the genin's welfare at all was enough to put a little smile on Sakura's face. She didn't catch Sasori staring oddly at her from the corner of his eye as she stowed the said item away._

_Loud grunts echoed from down the hall as a massive bulk was dragged to its cell. _That must be Sasori's partner, Deidara of the Akatsuki! _Sakura's heart was already immersed with further pity by the time he was thrown into his cell, adjacent to the Iwa genin's. The said girl was butted by the hilt of a katana. "We know you're awake. The Tsuchikage has come to talk to you, so be respectful, you runt." Sakura barely could keep her surprise in check; this couldn't lead to anything good. The Tsuchikage, a man, was surprisingly short - about Sakura's height if she was on her knees - and reeked of old age. Slowly, the genin raised her head. Her face was bloody, swollen, and bruised, but like the damage to the rest of her body, it was not critical. Perhaps these Iwa folk had some sort of morals against the common belief._

_The Tsuchikage sighed. "Sora. I welcomed you into my village, raised you from a crying whelp to a young kunoichi. All you have done is deceive, you runt!"_

"_I was misinformed of my duty," the Iwa genin, Sora, replied. It was pointless, but it was better than ignoring the Tsuchikage. The man, who was far past his prime, had a short temper and clung to old customs like gum on the bottom of a shoe. He viewed the younger generations with utmost disgust, often complaining about the lack discipline._

"_You knew you had to tread carefully. Now, how can even a half-witted fool not believe you were in cohorts with Konoha? Or the Akatsuki?"_

"_I have no relations to the Akatsuki."_

"_For all these years, you have slept in _his_ bed, ate in _his _room, and you mean to yet again lie and say you have no relations to the scum of their kind?" the Tsuchikage snapped accusingly, pointing at Deidara, who was phasing in and out between consciousness and the black void._

"_I have not…"_

"She has not!" _the Tsuchikage mocked. "Stop with your lies, runt, starting with your name. Did you think I had no idea of the past you lied about, the past you hid? Hah! What kind of fool do you take me for, taking in arsonists in my own village? As if I didn't already know! You burned your clan alive, Ookamika Saori!" There was a slight flash of shock in Sora's eyes before they quickly gave way to anger, to murderous intent. Sakura's breath hitched while Sasori remained unsurprised, Deidara still in slumber. _The Ookamika Clan!_ thought Sakura. They had been an odd little clan, living away from the Hidden Sand Village in preference of their own little village east of Suna in the middle of the Wind Country desert. The clan had been in civil war for decades, practically since the beginning of its existence, when a wildfire had consumed them, or so the Suna authorities had claimed. Sakura was only seven or eight then, worrying more about Uchiha Sasuke and his clan's sudden massacre. The explanation seemed truthful, anyhow; with another searing hot day in the desert, a fire was bound to start!_

_But now this bold accusation? She had never heard of Ookamika Saori before this day. Not only that, Sora seemed unlikely to be at fault. _She must have only been five or six then. She probably couldn't even manipulate chakra, let alone a fire jutsu, especially if it isn't her chakra's natural elemental affinity. But to set a fire manually would have been easy for someone her age, despite the running around she must've done to really cause an unstoppable disaster.

_Sora seemed to be in firm belief of the opposite. "I did _not_ kill my family."  
_

"_Who will believe you now? Your deceit never ends."_

"_I can't force anybody to believe anything. It's your choice to be the fool." This was rewarded with a painful sword-butt to the head. The Tsuchikage scoffed, signaling his leave._

"_Runts will be runts. They'll never change, no matter what you do!"_

"_Hold it." The Tsuchikage stared wide-eyed at the speaker, none other than Akasuna no Sasori. "That fool you've brought here and I are members of the Akatsuki."_

"_You think I don't know?" the Tsuchikage snapped._

"_Then you should know you are violating the terms of our agreement. The Akatsuki joined many nations in a peace agreement for alliance; Iwa was one of those who agreed to it. The terms include that the Akatsuki are not to be captured; you have violated the terms." Sakura frowned immediately. Many nations had allied themselves with the Akatsuki? She glanced at Sora, who didn't seem the slightest surprised. If she wasn't, it meant she knew of this alliance, which meant Sasori wasn't lying._

"_In a month, those terms won't apply here, or _anywhere_," growled the Tsuchikage, whose back disappeared in the darkness of the corridor._

_The moment they were out of earshot, Sakura burst. "What are they talking about? What's this alliance?"_

_Sasori appeared to have no interest in informing his former enemy. Sora, or rather Saori, replied in his place, "Just as he said it. The Akatsuki formed a peace agreement with most of the countries."_

"_Why? Oh and you! You were too young to -!"_

"_Because I _didn't_," Saori responded. "I'm not the only one misinformed."_

"_If you hadn't run…," Sasori added ambiguously. Sakura and Saori stared at him in disbelief. For Saori, it was a matter of how he hinted he knew much more than he should. For Sakura, it was just the ambiguous part. Sasori, it should seem, was always straightforward and precise, a no-nonsense sort of man. Suddenly, the alliance dropped in priority on Sakura's list of things to find out._

"_What do you know of it? You never came back. I hoped in vain that you were not Sasori-sama."_

_Sakura resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow to the honorific Saori had tagged to Sasori's name. He, however, was not the slightest bit bothered, as if he had demanded that she add it. "Do not expect an apology from me. I taught you to utilize your chakra and I warned you about your father. You chose not to listen. You are too blind. Were it not for Jigoku and I you would have been on the list of the dead. Regardless, what do you think might be believed when the Genyou Senshi, a known agent of the Ookamika Clan, was looking for you? How could it not be believed you were criminalized and wanted by the Ookamika? And who do you think a smart, efficient girl like her might ask first? Naomi, your mother, of course. Because what kind of runt _doesn't_ run to mommy first? Naomi contacted my spies, the ones I used to keep an eye on you. She asked me to find you. Don't believe me? I have known Naomi for a long time. I was present at your birth. She asked me to steal you, actually. To take you from your father's custody."_

"_But you didn't."_

"_The Akatsuki had recently acquired me. It had my hands full, and what time I wasn't spending on commissions I spent on my puppets. Mind you, eight years earlier, I was quite ready to murder your father. I had already killed the Third Kazekage for giving Naomi to your father as a peace offering. Such a rare piece, I couldn't risk losing the man and his Satetsu, his Iron Sand while fighting your father. He took awhile for me to refine. I hope you understand."_

"_You sick and vile old man!" roared Sakura, leaping to her feet. "You could have saved her! She could have lived a better life!" Inner Sakura had different opinions, all of which she poked at Sakura in their head._

_Sasori, on the other hand, stared at Sakura with annoyance. "And _then_ what? Have her grow up to my tastes, to suffer the horrors of growing up without knowing your parents? Mind you, I hold no sympathies. However, I have suffered more than you _or_ Chiyo could have ever imagined. That girl would have ended no more than useless, inferior puppet I was bound to discard. _I _do_ not_ do useless things, girl."_

"_Christ, would you all shut up, hmm?" growled Deidara, who struggled to sit up. Saori reached to help him as much as she could before the cuffs began digging into her skin. "The hell is this screaming about, anyhow, hmm? You look like you're ready to piss your pants, hmm, Sasori-danna." Sasori sent a menacing glare worthy of the grand prize. "Damn, they really did a number on me." Peering at Saori's hitai-ate, or ninja headband, he was surprised to find a fellow traitor. "What did they do to you?"_

"_Punched and slapped mostly," she responded._

"_I guess you were marked 'fragile,' hmm?" he chuckled. Sakura muttered "sexist" under her breath._

"_No, I just told them what they suspected me of."_

"_How do you know what they think you did, hmm? I've been an Iwa shinobi long enough to know they don't want to force out what they want to hear from you, but the truth."_

_Hesitation. "I just know."_

"_That's a lame cover-up, hmm."_

"_She can read minds," Sasori contributed. Saori shot daggers at the puppet master, but quickly looked back down. Deidara raised his eyebrows in mild curiosity; Sakura, however, wasn't as willing to believe it, deeming it an impossibility. Reading minds was the kind of thing people like Hatake Kakashi and Hyuuga Neji pretended to be able to do, but neither of which could actually do. "So naïve."_

"_Why you -!" A glaring match ensued between the Hokage's apprentice and the puppet master._

"_Can you really, hmm?" Deidara whispered as Sasori and Sakura glared each other down. "Show me, hmm! Tell me what they're thinking." No was almost firmly on Saori's tongue when Deidara offered her a dazzling but crooked grin. Saori froze, eyes widening the slightest bit on its own volition. He had the most evilly powerful smile she had ever seen. For a bit, she was a little envious of it. Clearing her head, she pulled together the bits of chakra yet untouched by the chakra-draining cuffs on her wrists. Quietly, she activated her clan's bloodline limit, the Mind's Eye, to the first state, which fortunately required very little chakra, though she was probably draining her supply dangerously near zero. Deidara watched with piqued interest and fascination as black swallowed her pupil and her irises. The gold of her irises became the whites of her eyes. It had an overall freaky appearance, but neat to watch regardless._

"_Sasori is thinking that Sakura's eyes are a nice shade of green. He wants to see it under better lighting. He also notes that Sakura's chest and butt have grown larger since she killed him but thinks that if she keeps on maturing she won't make for an ideal three hundredth puppet because of… balance issues…?" Sakura turned a light shade of pink but continued glaring at Sasori's impassive and unashamed doll face, all the while resisting the urge to scream at Deidara, who was having a field day although he was beginning to hurt his ribcage from laughing. "Sakura is trying very pathetically to hide something from me, but it's pointless… let's see… Sakura is trying to stop herself from admiring Sasori's hair and wants to know how soft Sasori's lips are. She was imagining Sasori sanding his lips in the bathroom. You should've seen it!"_

"_Damn, I wish I could, hmm!" The two could scarcely hold their laughter for more than a moment. Sasori blinked inquisitively at Sakura before turning away. Glad the glaring match was over, Sakura turned her back to the three of them in complete embarrassment._

"_Did I mention how much they both want to kill us?"_

_Deidara snorted amidst laughter. "Shame they can't, hmm!"

* * *

_

"SASORI PRETTY MUCH KNEW I thought he was attractive since then. He had gotten an older-looking body, too, and that made it ten times worse," Sakura continued. Then laughing, she added, "Later, I came to find out he had gotten rid of the creepier stuff, like this coil he used to keep where his stomach should be and stuff. He pretty much looked like a normal nineteen-year-old underneath." Aside her, Hinata giggled.

"That girl reading your mind sounds much more embarrassing than brother Neji reading his opponents," the Hyuuga princess replied.

"Ooh, yes, much worse!"

"Did Saori take a liking in the other Akatsuki?"

"His name was Deidara, the one who blew himself up in his fight against Sasuke. In our escape, they became very close friends, but Saori always had her heart elsewhere. She reminded me a little of how I had loved Sasuke, except I think the guy she liked also liked her, just that he didn't know it until she had gone."

"And what was his name? Was it the boy who tried to buy her time?"

"Yes; he was supposed to be the next Tsuchikage, but, you've probably heard, that's no longer true. His name is Ootowari Toyotomi."

* * *

_LAUGHING SO HARD AND for so long had taken an obvious toll on Deidara in the following weeks, who phased through states of consciousness and slumber more frequently than before. He received little medical attention, to Sakura's disgust. Sakura tried to assist him from across the hall the best she could, instructing Saori how to help him, but now without chakra, little good could be done. Saori reached for Deidara's shredded Akatsuki cloak again, tearing off a strip to replace the blood soaked one that went around his head. As she began peeling the soiled cloth away, he took a extremely long, discomforting, and inquisitive look at her. For what felt like the umpteenth time, she froze. "Do I… know you?"_

_Instantly her instincts kicked in as she nearly snapped a quick "No!" Sasori raised his eyebrow, but Deidara seemed too tired to ask further._

"_No, I do… from somewhere, hmm. Like, recently. Whatever, hmm. That's not important." With her help, he leaned against the side of his cell, exhausted, and in pain. "Have you thought of a plan yet, hmmm, Sasori-danna?"_

_Sasori stared blankly at him. "No." Shortly after, he returned glaring at Sakura, who promptly glared back at him. They had been throwing insults previously, but now they made an unspoken agreement that stare downs were better than wasting their breaths._

"_Hey, idiots, I don't know if you've noticed something, but if we don't help each other, we're never going to get out of here. This long-haired blonde over here and I are probably dead by tomorrow morning," piped Saori._

_Sasori shrugged, "I have no problems getting out of here on my own. Why do I need your help?"_

_She snorted. "Let me see you try to break out."_

_Sasori inquisitively raised an eyebrow. "Do you have such high regards of this place, held together with only a few degradable materials?"_

"_So maybe you can get out of your cell. You still have to get out of this prison, and then figure out how to get out of Iwa. The mountains and forests surrounding Iwa are not easy to navigate. The landscape has been changed multiple times in the past few years, simply to prevent convicts from escaping. The only unchanged area is the Ootowari Estate, west of Iwa. A canyon and river divides Iwa from the Ootowari Estate, and one stone bridge connects the two. The area has high security. You'll be dead before you can say 'you were right.'"_

_Sasori smirked. "Clearly, your simpleton mind cannot comprehend the art of eternal beauty."_

"_Don't kid me. I may look stupid, but I'm not _that_ idiotic. Nothing lasts forever." Deidara peered at her at the corner of his eye before smirking at Sasori, apparently thinking Saori agreed with his point of view of art._

"_Looks like they've changed a bunch of things since I was here, hmm."_

"_I would think so, you left shortly before I came to Iwa. Your name, by the way?" Saori half-asked._

"_Wow, you're really up to date with bingo book, yeah? Deidara, hmm. I would shake your hand if, gee, I didn't have broken arms right now."_

"_Addicted to sarcasm, are you?"_

"_Of course, hmm."_

"_And you?" Saori asked, tilting her head towards Sakura._

"_Haruno Sakura, of the clan, Haruno, apprentice of the Godaime Hokage," Sakura proudly recited. Saori seemed to be bothered by something but made no mention of it._

"_Don't you think you're leaving someone out, hmm?" Deidara asked, his back to hers._

"_I know Sasori….san…" Sasori shot her a discomforting look. "…sama… already."_

"_Speech impairment, yeah?"_

"_No," Saori replied, not too appreciative of what he was implying. "Unless you have an imaginary friend, who else is there to ask to introduce?"_

"_I don't know, how about you, hmm?"_

"_Sasori and Sakura already know who I am."_

"_What about me, hmm? Don't I get to know? Or will I have to charm it out of you, hmm?" Deidara smirked._

_With some miraculous luck, a blush did not form. "My name is Sora."_

"_How about your other name, hmm?"_

"_It's irrelevant."_

"_That's not irrelevant, hmm. Now, seriously, introduce yourself to me. Like, list all your crap like little cherry blossom over there did, hmm, because I'm bored," yawned Deidara, who was beginning to lose consciousness. Saori gently pushed him onto his back for more comfort as he closed his eyes, looking a bit peaceful for once. The tips of Saori's lips twitched upward the slightest bit, but soon vanished just as quickly. Shouts and yells erupted from the end of the hallway, apparently from some sort of argument. A few moments later, an all-too-familiar boy, surrounded by escorts and guards who were bickering with each other, stopped in front of Saori's cell._

"_Toyotomi," said Saori in a voice the said boy couldn't tell was relief or despair._

"_And Sora. Or, is Saori better suited?" Toyotomi half-sneered. Turning to his bodyguards, he added, "You're all dismissed."_

"_But – " protested a guard._

_Toyotomi glared at them. "I'm the next Tsuchikage."_

"_Right. Our apologies, honorable grandnephew!" The escorts relocated themselves at the end of the hallway, prepared to save the future Tsuchikage at a moment's notice._

"_What are you doing here, Ootowari?" Saori asked, not bothering to look at him. There was a visible twitch of distaste at the sudden switch to his family name but Saori did not notice it._

"_To talk to you. Why did you let that Konoha scum go?" Toyotomi snapped like a disappointed father of sorts. "You didn't know the details of our mission. You should've just followed me, stayed out of the way!"_

"_And why do you care?" Saori was up on her feet, chains rattling noisily._

"_I have my reasons. I don't want brainless nitwits in my village when I'm Tsuchikage. I want talent. You have a smidgeon of talent; small as it is, that's all I have."_

_She scowled at the apathetic boy. "Of course, why did I even ask. You've said that before. You only want a tool."_

_He shrugged in response. "Take it as you will. So, tell me, can that pea brain of yours think of some excuse for your traitorous actions?"_

"_Of course not. It's simple. I thought it was wrong, so I set Haruno free. Of course, I could blame it on Mikaiyo and you for not telling me about the mission, but, _funny,_ I don't think that will fly well." Toyotomi let out a frustrated yell, which his bodyguards down the hall seemed to have mistaken for a cry of help. He told them to back off with a gesture, nursing his bruised and blooded knuckles while the wall he had hit was hardly marred. "Toyotomi…" He glanced up at her, ignoring the signs of red peeking through the black of her hair. What was that in her voice? Some kind of annoyance? Or worry? He must have been imagining things. This was Sora, or Saori, or whatever her real name was. He'd given her a hell of a time - she had no reason to care over his bloodied knuckles. That was the kind of thing his mother did._

_Quickly looking back down when he realized he'd been staring, he muttered, "You have to give me something better than that."_

"_And what if I don't feel like being your tool, Ootowari?" The hardness of her voice returned, with her seething anger, perhaps at herself for reasons he did not know._

"_Look, you want your life or not?"_

"_Iwa is my home, Ootowari. I have no where else to go." This time she would not meet his gaze, which hid an immense amount of shock but only showed the least bit of it. _

"_Sora…"_

"_Oi, Toyotomi! Fraternizing with the enemy, are you? Gramps won't look on that too well," teased a young, black-haired woman. She was usually accompanied by her brother, a rather tall and round young man. Today, she was alone, save a few bodyguards. That kind of thing was standard with the Ootowari's most promising offspring. _

"_Very funny, Kurotsuchi," he returned the remark, immediately leaving his post by Saori's cell. "What the hell are _you_ doing here? Deidara was never your teammate or lover or what other crap you want to claim him as."_

_The young woman, Kurotsuchi, threw her hands up as a playful sign of surrender. "Hey, hey, I didn't say he was anything to me. And watch your language. I may be your cousin, but I'm still older than you. You're just seventeen. It's not your time to have a potty mouth yet."_

"_Yeah, yeah, whatever. We're clearing out."_

_Toyotomi stalked past his cousin, thoroughly annoyed at her. Kurotsuchi always came off as light-hearted and playful, but Toyotomi was no such idiot. Her red eyes were always analyzing, always deceiving, always berating him. "Well, well, look at you, Mr. Toyotomi, ordering others around because he thinks he's the next Tsuchikage-"_

"_He will be."_

_Much to the surprise of all of the occupants in the hallway, Saori dared to venture to the very edge of her cell so that Kurotsuchi could see her. She had a fierce look about her, as if she thoroughly and firmly believed in her statement. She was not sure, but it felt as though her heart dropped a few floors when Toyotomi only briefly stopped before continuing his way, not even looking at her. Kurotsuchi snorted, and while adding a laugh, "Looks like you have a little fan girl, Toyotomi. I guess that fraternizing got you somewhere - support from a traitor." Her unrestrained laughter echoed even after she had left with her bodyguards. Saori sunk back to her knees, her chains clinking as they went down with her. Where that sudden outburst had come from, she was not sure._

"_Tch, Ootowari Toyotomi. He could have at least left his ego back at home. It reeks of it here, hmm!" Deidara mumbled drowsily._

"_Don't say that," Saori half-heartedly rose to her former teammate's defense. _

"_You're defending that prick? The Ootowari are the worse of 'em, hmm!"_

"_He's a good person, Deidara! Anyone of us can see that. You can't. You betrayed us." Chain rattled again as Deidara struggled to face her._

"_What the hell is wrong with you, hmm? They're planning on removing your _head_ soon. How can you still count yourself as one of them, hmm? Are you dumb or something?"_

"_I had a place here."_

"_You are dumb, hmm! These people, they're all dipshits. You don't belong here; you don't belong anywhere, hmm." Deidara slumped, turning his back to her again. The anger and animosity in his voice showed a bad relationship with Iwa in his past, but why or what, Saori did not know, and did not bother to ask. Possibly it had something to do with the Ootowari family; for years, they had ruled the political, economical, and social aspects of life in Iwagakure. Instead of helping the village prosper, they had stunted the growth of the village, and created a lush area called the Ootowari Estate, the home of all Ootowari. This place was the one of few places in Iwa that had soil good enough to use for planting; it allowed the Ootowari to monopolize the markets, as importing from other countries was costly, sometimes just as costly as purchasing food from the Ootowari Family. Saori herself never quite favored the Ootowari; it drove her insane that the current Tsuchikage, an Ootowari, insisted on having ninjas play a _ninja_ battle for the Tsuchikage's entertainment._

_Toyotomi, though, she believed, was different from the other Ootowari. Toyotomi had actual talent, woven from a different bolt of cloth. He was a good leader, and though he mostly saw her as a tool, he made her feel like a somebody. Toyotomi could be the turnaround Iwa desperately needed, she had concluded. She stubbornly shook her head._ No, Toyotomi is the turnaround Iwa desperately needs.

* * *

"HE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING about how he came back to life?" queried Hinata. Sakura slowly shook her head.

"Sasori… he was very closed off, even to me. He didn't share a lot with me, most things I had to assume. I think his heart was just healed, but I… won't ever know. Sometimes, I wonder why I thought I loved him," Sakura muttered, half to herself, half to Hinata. _Sometimes,_ she added, _I wonder if I still do love him_. She could only stare guiltily down at her stomach, now flat.

"The question is will you be able to forgive yourself and move on?" The question caught Sakura off guard, and she offered no response, as she herself did not know the answer to it. Her mind was a confusing mess in its current state, from several nights of no sleep and constant worry. "Is Saori still alive?"

"…No."

Hinata frowned. "What happened?"

"A few weeks ago, I was told she killed herself. Apparently, she was fighting Deidara, and decided to give up and die instead." Hinata found it was unnecessary to attempt to comfort the young medic nin, as Sakura seemed to refuse any advances. "Hinata, how can I become myself again? I liked my old self, the one that still worried over Sasuke-kun, the one who would punch Naruto and Sai, but still love them. I want my old self back… I want to forget."

"Well, I'm not very sure how to revert yourself, but I'm sure that it will help if learn to forgive. You can't forget your child. He or she's been born and you would never truly be your old self again if you abandoned him or her. The Sakura I knew would never do that, not even if that child is the child of a criminal. She'd love him or her all the same. I'm sure if Saori was here, she would tell you the same thing." Sakura nodded as Hinata spoke, a small smile on her lips upon recalling the days of the original Team Seven. Memories of her wild escape, of Saori and Deidara's stunts, of her intimate moments with Sasori flooded her mind. Hinata slowly got up, most likely to inform Yamato and Sai of the situation. "And Sakura?"

"Hmm?"

"I like your old self, too." Hinata smiled.

"Thank you… Hinata."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Review please! Thank you ^_^


	5. The Ookamika

**Author's Note:** Agh! I'm sorry, I forgot again DX I guess I should just upload this on Thursdays instead, lol XD Please enjoy! Lots of explaining in here, I think. More present-time stuff though! Aren't you glad? XD

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter Four **the Ookamika

THERE WERE DOZENS OF shinobi, of all ages, of both genders, milling around. It seemed like the inner systems of an ant hill, except the ants here were not particularly in a rush to do anything. Children ran around the dozens of tunnels that vanished and reappeared here and there. Right off the bat, the "ocean visitor" could name some of them as bloodline members of her clan by their dark skin, eye color, and their tell-tale lock of hair dyed the color of the father's hair. The symbol of her clan ran rampant here. She could feel the tears fighting to well up in her eyes, but her pride swallowed them down, the lump in her throat, too. The last time she had seen that symbol flying proudly was the day it was burned down. Never had the "ocean visitor" believed she would become so emotional about two squares overlaying each other. "So this… is what has become of the Ookamika Clan…"

The boy who had been her escort the entirety of the journey eyed her. Surely he had seen her eyes welling up, but he was smart enough to keep the comments to himself. "This is not just the home of the Ookamika. This is also the greatest gathering of the Kurokami."

The girl felt her stomach drop. "K-kurokami? I thought… that was all a lie."

"You're staring at one," he added with a smirk. Her gold eyes widened, in slight fear and in plenty of awe.

When she as younger, the Kurokami, or the Black Gods as they so vainly had named themselves, were fabled to be descendants of the old civilization the Ookamika Clan was said to hail from. They could be identified by their chakra's elemental affinity. The modern Ookamika Clan had only Wind and Fire elemental affinities, the result of the two poorer districts of Wind and Fire having thrown a successful and gruesome revolt against the richer districts of Earth and Water. The Kurokami had Earth and Water elemental affinities. At a single point in time, there was only one who had a Lightning elemental affinity, and that gift marked the clan leader. Back then, Lightning gifts marked the normally undisputed ruler of the old civilization. "A Black God… Who would have known…"

"Actually, Jigoku knew all along."

"Ji… Jigoku…? He's still alive…? All these years…?"

"He wasn't _that_ ancient, you know," the boy continued. He beckoned her to follow him, which she obliged without a fight. They took a quick journey through the various tunnels built underground, she doing her best to ignore to wide-eyed stares she was receiving from the people whose attention she had caught. She was not a well-loved celebrity amongst her fellow clan members, but she was most certainly heard of. Her red hair and eye scar made her unmistakable to those who knew what to look for, despite her battered appearance. She clutched the scratched out Iwa headband tighter in her hands, feeling the perfectly cut edges digging into her skin.

In the nine or so years she had been gone, she had believed there was only a handful of Ookamika left. Sure, she had been told by her escort that there were a hundred of them left, but she would never believe it without seeing it with her own two eyes - well, what her one and a half eyes could see. She had always had a gut feeling that Jigoku, her sensei and the last clan leader, was alive, but he'd been alive so long she wasn't sure she wanted to believe he was. Plus, what would she say? Nine years of silence on her part, nine years since he destroyed the corrupted part of their clan. Nine years since she had ignored his call and ran to Iwa. Nine years.

The journey to a quieter part of the underground complex was far too short, the butterflies flying like never before in the girl's stomach. She could feel the chakra signature of the man behind the door wash over her, along with the sickening nostalgia. He could feel hers, too; she knew, as he had stopped his activities inside the room. "Bring her in, Takashi." Takashi, her escort, clutched the door knob, and slid it open.

He looked so much older than she had last seen him. He looked as though more than just nine years had passed him by - perhaps ninety years. Before she could inquire what happened, Jigoku answered for her, "I cannot keep up the jutsu I have been using all these years. Time is catching up with me, at long last." She was about to ask how he knew, but he pointed to his eyes. She almost let herself smile, remembering now the Kekkei Genkai of the Ookamika Clan, the Mind's Eye. She had it herself, but, oh, how long it had been since she had called upon her bloodline limit.

"Jigoku-sama, please remove the jutsu you placed on my right eye," she requested once she got down to her knees, having followed Takashi's example. Jigoku had been the one light of her life back when she was a child, servant to her father. She had gotten into an argument with her father, who would have no such disrespect, from a girl, above all. He had one of his subordinates make sure she remembered her place, at the cost of her right eye. Jigoku had come to her rescue, but far too late; her right eye was almost completely incapable of sight. That she could even see light from her right eye was a miracle enough. Jigoku had eased her pain, placing a genjutsu that enhanced her visual capability in her right eye, but the damage was still there.

"You do not cherish the minimal sight you gain from it? I know my jutsu has deteriorated and your eyesight there gets worse, but surely you would like to see out of your right eye as long as you can," Jigoku replied.

"If it will lengthen Jigoku-sama's lifespan, then it is my filial duty and devoted wish," she replied, almost on automatic from old habits.

"We do not live like that anymore. I destroyed that part of our Clan life. Nine years ago, am I right?" He returned to his seat, rubbing his temples in hopes his migraines would go away. Takashi started, ready to care for the Ookamika Clan's leader, but was waved down. "I'm an old man, Takashi, but don't make me feel any older. I wish to skip the theatrics, and I know you both wish to do the same. You were around when the signs showed themselves. The war is coming. We cannot escape it, and we cannot let the Akatsuki rise to power. The Akatsuki has no room for us in their plans. They will destroy us. I think I need not ask of you to help me in to fulfill my dream to stop them."

"Of course not, Jigoku-sama," the girl responded.

"Your team has been waiting nine years for you." Neither did she nor Takashi need another hint; Takashi led her out of Jigoku's living quarters and study. A pang of guilt tugged at her heart. There was really no blame to be put on any one's shoulders, but she felt guilty regardless, which was very much unusual for her. Jigoku seemed so unlike himself, so… hurt. Perhaps he had much faith in her loyalty, as he had basically saved her life, yet she had become one of his greatest disappointments.

"Well, I certainly did not wait nine years for you, and I don't think our squad leader knows he did," Takashi said suddenly, heading a floor upward, the rowdy noises from the main hall hardly having an effect here. He pushed the door open, gesturing to her to enter. The window showing a bright blue sky and the sudden rise in temperature were dead giveaways that they were no longer underground. "He'll be here in a minute. While I call for him, you better try to clean up. I'm not kidding when I say you're a mess. And my jacket?" The said object was thrown at his face. He closed the door, not wanting to have a part in her indecency.

Staring at the mirror, she shocked herself. She knew she was ragged and worn-looking, but what she saw did not compare to what she thought the looked like. Nasty scratches, possibly from jagged stones in the river where she fell, were still present, but slowly fading. The dirt was mostly gone, but some still remained. Scrubbing would have to wait, and so would the hair cut she was so in need of, her hair having grown out of control during the time she had not roused from the deep slumber from the river to the sea. Her gold eyes were faded and miserable-looking. Much to her relief, her red choker was still intact, though in dire need of washing. Through the mirror she could see a neatly folded stack of clothes on the couch in a corner. She smiled to herself, wondering if they had changed it every year to suit her growing body, brushing away the slight melancholy of it. She quickly donned the first thing on the stack, a long and thin red overcoat of sorts. Throwing the gold metal belt she had worn for years aside, she snatched a belt from the pile, tugging on the pants just as she felt Takashi returning with an unfamiliar but somewhat familiar chakra signature. Wearing a proper shirt would have to wait. Soon enough, Takashi reentered the room with their team leader, a tall young man, a shinobi, possibly a chuunin or jounin from Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud. He had gold eyes much like the girl, and dark blue hair like most men in the Ookamika Clan had, though it had a strip of white in his bangs. He had a rather charming smile, and manners to boot, the girl noted as he offered his hand.

"New here, huh? People will stare the first time 'round, especially if they know you're one of Jigoku's students. But you'll get used to it soon." He whistled, "They said you had violent red hair, but I always thought that was an exaggeration."

She smiled back to him, immediately taking a liking to his loose nature, which seemed genuine. "It's one of those things you get from a Suna mother."

"I see. I had a Kumo mother. Ookamika Shirotsuki. You?"

"That's Ookamika Saori." The sound of the window softly shutting redirected the attention of the room's previous occupants. The "ocean visitor," Saori, felt a yell rise in her throat. It was only natural to want to scream in the rather frightening presence of their new guest. This white haired woman who donned the green pants and shirt was not known to be particularly friendly. Saori could not help but stare at the elder's blank headband.

"You… you're…"

"Yes, I am. I am the Genyou Senshi."

* * *

HIS ENTIRE BODY WAS aching. From his head to his heart to his toes, they all screamed in pain. His head suffered from a throbbing headache. His eyes cried from insomnia. His joints felt ancient from disuse. But most of all, his heart was bleeding from shame.

Pride blown to smithereens, the young man had crawled back to his room. His dark blue hair had grown to unprecedented lengths and was largely unkempt. It couldn't be helped - after all, in the last half year he'd been recovering from a brutal fight he had no right to have survived from. And now this, his reward for his failure to win that fight. Stripped of a title that was his by all rights. Oh, he could see the taunting red eyes of his cousin now, dancing in front of him. And where was the victor of that battle? Had she gotten out alive? He had been set up - it was all a huge set up - and he was sure no help was to come, yet help did come. Who had sent it? Had someone taken pity?

Worse yet to imagine was the shame of his mother. He rarely saw her now, leaving her to deal with the snickers and snide remarks that were meant to be born on his shoulders. His mother had hoped so much for him - to do what his father could not do, to fill his father's shoes and be even greater. He slowly forced himself into his bed, his joints yelling louder now as he moved. A faithful attendant remained by his side throughout the entirety of his downfall. He ought to thank her some time.

* * *

UCHIHA MADARA WAS HAVING a headache of his own. Aged hands on either side of his world map, he glared at it, his Sharingan flaring in both eyes, as if daring the paper to show him a solution to his problems. It had been twenty-seven years since he set his plan into motion, maybe fifty or so since he had first thought of it. He'd gone to the most wretched creatures and showed them his light, only to have them die on him. But no matter, he promised to take care of them so long as they served him. So out he had gone and found a willing medic to somehow repair and restore Sasori's heart chamber. The fool had learned to hide his chamber better, but the fool was still a fool at the end of the day. Gone and found himself a lover, had he! After all Madara had done for him, he'd found himself a girl - the girl who had killed him the first time around, of all beings! Oh, he had done Sasori in then, making sure that no medic - he had heard that Sasori's lover was one Haruno Sakura, one of the greatest medics in the land - could save him now. He had it in his mind to remove Sakura and their bastard son out of the picture, too. But, of course, when did the betrayal end? Deidara had swooped in to save the puppet master's lover, along with that obnoxious, D-Rank, traitorous red-haired girl from Iwa. And here, Madara had thought by sending Itachi to assassinate the two, there would be no "if" in the assassinations. The pink-haired woman _and _her brat were both alive.

None too thrilled about the situation, Madara made sure he would not repeat his mistake. With careful planning and cunning wit, the two Iwa idiots had fallen right into his hands, one right after the other. The girl from Iwa - Saori, was it? - had gone off and killed herself in thinking she might spare Deidara, and Deidara had killed himself for the sake of his pride. Madara had gone and ensured Uchiha Sasuke did not fall to Deidara's blast - Deidara's leaving had been all for nothing on his part. For Madara, the third fool in the bunch was out of the way.

But with both Deidara and Sasori gone, he was getting anxious. And worse yet, his infamous Zombie team, made from Hidan of Ame and Kakuzu of Taki, had a serious run-in with a team from Konoha. They had survived it, even took down a jounin from the team, but they had put Konoha on serious alert. Madara always knew that the two would run into trouble, the way they were picking off wanted men like flies. "Simply too good of a shinobi," Madara muttered to himself. Of course, they had gotten themselves killed by the same Konoha men. Four men down, five others to go. Itachi was starting to run off by himself, too, and knowing the Uchiha, Madara disliked little more. Itachi was likely one of very few who knew who he was, who knew his intentions. Madara, on the other hand, had no idea of Itachi's intentions, unsure where Itachi's loyalties were. For all Madara knew, Itachi had a target on his back.

If there was one bright spot in Madara's chaotic days it was the successful assassinations of the Fifth Kazekage and the Fifth Hokage. Their joint deaths were so sudden that it threw Suna and Konoha into chaos - making destroying Konoha easy. His men had gone and destroyed Konoha with the help of his newfound allies from Kiri, Taki, Kumo, Oto, Kusa, Iwa, and a faction from Suna. But his solid grip on the nations' alliance wasn't as solid as he had hoped - the nations attempted to do the Akatsuki in. Worse than that, they believed they _had _done in the Akatsuki, the organization that Madara had nurtured with all his care. He was forced to play possum while waiting for a chance to strike back or pretend to overlook the betrayal and deception. He no longer needed the nations' assistance, now that Konoha had been obliterate to nothingness, but he could not risk them getting in the way of his greater goal.

However a success his attack on Konoha was, there was another problem: in the midst of the chaos, many Konoha shinobi had disappeared. One of which, was the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki.

And then there were the rumors - rumors that Ookamika Saori was not in fact as dead as Madara had presumed. He had neither the time nor the cares to ensure she had died. She had been a minor threat at the time. Her Kekkei Genkai, the Mind's Eye, was only up the stage two, his informants had said, the stage where evolution stops for most Ookamika who gain access to the bloodline limit. But if the Ookamika's leader, Jigoku, got to her this time around, there was no saying in how much stronger she could grow. The Mind's Eye in both the third and fourth states were potentially dangerous to Madara, despite the fact his powerful Mangekyou Sharingan would nullify most of its power. And the fifth state that rumors have spoke of? The thought of an entirely black eye, representing the fifth state, caused further headache and worry.

The great warrior felt as though he had few to entrust with their duties left. Pain had yet to fail him, and so long as he had Pain in his pocket, Konan was sure to come along with the package. Fumbling with the little wooden toy soldier meant to represent Pain, he hesitantly placed it where Kumo was on the world map. The Hidden Cloud was the home of Killer Bee, the other remaining Jinchuuriki of Eight Tails. Surely Pain would not fail in finding and retrieving the Hachibi's Jinchuuriki.

* * *

AS FAR AS UCHIHA Itachi knew, he only had a few weeks to accomplish his wishes. Knowing the way Madara's mind worked, and furthermore, by knowing Madara's true intentions, he knew at some point Madara's poison would taint the mind of his little brother, Sasuke. Itachi knew he needed to die by Sasuke's hand - only then might Sasuke stop pursuing the Akatsuki, only then might Sasuke return to Konoha's safety. Out here, though strong, Madara still overpowered Sasuke. Madara knew Sasuke was after him, too - and just like the crafty person Itachi knew Madara as, it would not surprise him if Madara twisted the truth and fed it to Sasuke to get Sasuke off his back and against Konoha. _I did not lose my life in Konoha for this. I lost to it to protect Konoha. I lost it to protect Sasuke_.

Hoshigaki Kisame, his partner, eyed him curiously. Kisame had always known Itachi as a peculiar man, but as of late he seemed more on edge, like a trapped animal. As a great predator, Kisame knew the frantic signs of prey well. He made no comment on it, as troublesome as it was becoming. Itachi was a great warrior, and he'd pull through, Kisame was sure. Besides, what was one man's business was not his own unless it was his mission.

"We're here. You coming?" Kisame asked his partner, whose brow still showed signs of concern. The black-haired male shook his head, waving Kisame off.

"I'll join you later."

"Something happening tomorrow?"

Itachi glanced at Kisame. Though the Kiri nin was an S-Rank missing nin, Itachi felt like he trusted him more than anyone else, other than Sasuke and the Sandaime. He sensed Kisame respected him.

"Soon… I will find Naruto… then Sasuke… and I will tell him where we will fight…"

"Oh? The Kyuubi is missing. I hear Leader's after him. It has been a long time, no? Ready to kill them now?"

Wearily, Itachi nodded. Some things he ought to leave unsaid. After all, what might Kisame say if he knew Itachi had no intention of killing Sasuke _or_ Naruto? And hardly was it a matter of whether Sasuke was ready to fight with Itachi after all this time, but a matter that Itachi was running out of time. He had let Sasuke submerge himself in the darkness for far too long now - Sasuke's brutal and vicious battle with Deidara was evidence of the darkness Sasuke was surrounded by. Naruto Itachi had to speak with before Sasuke was too far under; Naruto was the brightest source of light Itachi had ever laid eyes on. He was obnoxious and loud, but Itachi had no better hopes in anyone but Naruto in his ability to pry open Sasuke's eyes. Itachi was sure he would be able to find the wild boy, and would go to all sorts of measures to do so. Naruto had waited some three or four years for Sasuke's return. With Itachi's help, maybe Naruto might get his wish fulfilled, if only to save Sasuke from Madara.

An ugly thought began to sink in his mind - what if it was already too late, to the point that Naruto could not revert him? Who would protect Sasuke when Itachi went? Who would protect Sasuke from the ugly truth? His mind wandered back to the day he annihilated his clan. The original plan was for Itachi to destroy the clan on his own - but when Danzou went off to stir trouble in his quest for power, other clans from other nations came into the picture. He had a quick run-in with a representative of a faction in Kumogakure no Sato who wanted to rid of the Tamakachi Clan, relatively stress-free. However, Itachi's prime concern outside his own clan back then was to keep in contact with a representative of the Ookamika Clan - more specifically, the Tsukiyomi side, its members users of the Fuuton, or Wind Jutsu, who were, then, in alliance with Sunagakure no Sato. Suna's government made no inputs supporting or criticizing the Tsukiyomi's plan to destroy the troublesome Amaterasu side, made of Katon or Fire Jutsu users, whom they had battled for clan control for years. As far as Itachi knew, of the four nations who agreed on this joint overthrow of some clan or another, only Konoha's mission succeeded. The Tamakachi had caught wind of the plan and ran south, whereas Iwa's clan in question had begged for compromise and won it. In Suna, the Tsukiyomi had gone through with the plan, but was devastatingly overwhelmed by the clan leader's power. Nonetheless, the Ookamika Clan vanished after the Tsukiyomi's defeat. What was supposed to have been a groundbreaking reaffirmation of the nation's powers ended up merely as the shocking downfall of the Uchiha Clan and a hardly mentioned disappearance of a Clan in Suna.

Itachi remembered his trips to the border with Suna well; on his first trip, he had been very tentative. He hated his mission, hated even more that four of the five great nations were doing some form of this traitorous act as well. He had hardly heard of the Ookamika Clan before this; apparently, the Clan had isolated themselves from Suna but served them in return for land. Since its establishment, constant battles between the two sides of the clan had led to its decline. He had no idea what he should expect from such an environment. That first day, he was to meet up with a Tsukiyomi representative, but he was given no details of his or her appearance. When she first walked out from the harsh sun's rays into the woods were Itachi waited, he was not sure what to make of her. She had dark blue hair - apparently the most common hair color among the Ookamika , though Itachi swore only men had that hair color - and had her gold-colored hitai-ate across her eyes, Suna's village insignia gleaming proudly on the plate.

"_You're at Konoha's border. You've got business here?" Itachi had asked, playing as a border patrol member. Though he couldn't see it, he had a feeling she was squinting her eyes at him._

"_And you're at Suna's border. You should know I have business, Uchiha."_

"_Hn." _So the Tsukiyomi sent someone notable my way. If they're going to be this distrustful, I better be on tighter guard. _He held out his hand, expectantly waiting for the scroll in question._

"_We exchange at the same time. What do you take me for, an idiot?" Itachi felt a smile rise but forced it back down where it came from. Slowly and cautiously, they exchanged the scrolls containing information from other's leader before walking away without so much as a word._

And so the meetings had continued for another month or so before the plan was put in action. He remembered clearly the day after the attacks. Itachi had planned his escape, but unexpected border patrols had drove him down south. What he came across next had befuddled him. The messenger he had been meeting with, whose name she would not give him the honor of knowing, had run past him. She must have known he was there but she made no acknowledgment of him. There had been dark blotches on her gold hitai-ate, most likely from crying as opposed to bleeding, as it did not have a reddish hue. Itachi had dropped from his hidden position and nearly shocked the life out of her.

"_You!" she cried, immediately pushing herself off the ground back to her feet. "What are you doing here?"_

"_I did my clan in. I cannot be shielded by Konoha for a capital offense," he had bluntly replied for no reason. "What happened to you?" In the meetings he had with her, she had always been composed. She betrayed little through her mannerisms - rather, probably she was taught that way, to be a tool and nothing more._

"_Um. It went… ah… all wrong."_

"_You never were for the plan, were you?"_

"_Who could be? Aside from you? How could you be so monstrous to go for this?"_

"_Because I have a little brother. I cannot watch him die on the hands of Konoha or the Uchiha. You have siblings, don't you?"  
_

"_Yes; many." Itachi did not inquire further about them, having learned the history of Tsukiyomi's leader's many affairs a short while ago. "But none that I should care for."_

"_You must have told failed to go through for somebody."_

_She stared at her feet a moment, thinking. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Maybe I just don't believe in the plan."_

"_You told your clan leader."_

"_It's the most responsible thing to do."  
_

"_Sometimes you don't have to go by the textbook."_

"_Are you saying I should have let the Amaterasu be obliterated?"_

"_So there's someone you do care about on the Amaterasu side." Her open mouth began to close with no sound. She was falling apart, becoming a mess. One little slip up, and someone talented like Itachi would know it all. She'd best keep her mouth shut, but she felt like yelling more than anything._

"_I have a little half-sister. Many younger half-siblings, but she's the only one I had to…" The tears were turning her entire hitai-ate dark with moisture. She sank to her knees and Itachi joined her. She told him everything from the start - how she was born with her Kekkei Genkai already activated and therefore labeled to be erased from the face of the earth. She was saved only because her father, the Tsukiyomi's leader, recognized that she would be useful in the days to come. Proud that her father had saved her life, she had dutifully served him as expected of Ookamika daughters. She loved that she was treated differently. Even when she saw him mistreating one of his own daughters, who had been relegated to the ranks of servants, she felt no sympathy for her less fortunate half-siblings._

_Yet one peculiar night came around, when she was summoned at the oddest hours of the night; she found her egotistical father berating the same servant she'd seen before - red hair, gold eyes. She'd heard this was the brat of Suna's village whore whom the Kazekage had promised to the Tsukiyomi leader as a peace offering. For the brat to be treated as a servant was of no surprise, but for her father to be berating her in private? That was unusual. Regardless, she got to her knees and flared her chakra as a sign she had arrived. The yelling and sobbing stopped as her father opened the door. "Get in here," he snapped. Then, pointing to the brat, he added, "Use your Mind's Eye on her. Third State. Make her cut out her eye."_

_Needless to say, the messenger was scared out of her mind. Force a five year old to carve her own eye out? That was a higher level of cruelty. She had no place to protest, though. Quietly, in her mind, she began to contemplate whether she could user her Kekkei Genkai against her father as a route out of this mess. Her father's Kekkei Genkai was only at state two, versus her state three Mind's Eye. But she was young and she doubted herself. All she could do was make it quick, minimize the damage as to keep some eyesight, and be glad she was the one who would loose her eyesight. The things she wished she could scream, both at herself and at her father. Her strength recoiled inside of her, submitting to an unknown cowardice. The screams that ensued reverberated in her ears; the Tsukiyomi's representative would not sleep that night, or the one following it._

"_She is my regret. I took her eye and now to take her life? I have stepped outside of my boundaries," the young woman continued. Itachi could only imagine the pain he would suffer, having to put Sasuke through that. Though, in a way, he already did._

"_You have to run now. You have no way of knowing if you will be punished by your leader, but Suna will, when they find out you betrayed their ally. The hair has to go. That and your skin color will give you away if you ever travel south," Itachi instructed. With his help, dark blue gave way to white. The gold colored hitai-ate which bore Suna's insignia was burned away in favor of a green one with a blank plate. "You must remain unknown to everyone. You must remain as the Unknown Soldier, the Genyou Senshi."

* * *

_

"SHE JUST CAME BACK, nee-san. No need to freak her out," said Shirotsuki. The Genyou Senshi disregarded his comment, her eyes, hidden behind her green hitai-ate, seeming to stare at particularly nothing. Takashi slightly lowered his head as a sign of respect to the woman, whose age was indeterminable. Saori, however, was less than disrespectful, gawking at Shirotsuki in shock - had he just called the Genyou Senshi his sister? "What are you here for, anyways? I thought we agreed this should be the _oh_ so tear-jerking meeting, obnoxious family members excluded."

"Watch what you're saying, you brat," the Genyou Senshi replied. "I wanted to see it myself." _It?_ Something inside Saori snapped. Did the Genyou Senshi just refer to her as _it_? "She hasn't changed much. Lost the baby fat. Still dirty like she used to be. Hopefully a lot smarter."

"Hey, hey, don't be mean," Shirotsuki lightly chuckled. Saori began to feel self-conscious, letting her overlong bangs fall in front of her eyes further. She felt like a sun beam was shining right on her eye, right on that scar.

"Just how old are you?" Saori asked suddenly. Takashi's eyes slightly widened, as if aware of the carnage that was only expected to come. To ask an older woman their age! _She must have lost her manners in that river._

"Not as old as you might think I am," the Genyou Senshi replied, heading towards the door. Shirotsuki could feel the Genyou Senshi barging into his mind as she left him a warning message: _"She's not as rules free as you think she is. Don't mess with her." _Shirotsuki mentally groaned, hoping the Genyou Senshi would hear. He hated her warning messages, which never fully informed him of the true message.

"Well -! That was pleasant," Shirotsuki said sarcastically. "I've waited awhile now. You should introduce yourself. I am your team leader, and Takashi here and I will be your team members until you kick the bucket. Wonderful, isn't it?"

"Absolutely," she said most unenthusiastically. It was too early in the morning to be thinking about something as morbid as death.

"I guess she's shy," Shirotsuki added in a loud whisper, meant to produce a laugh from her. It failed, but Takashi took his cue without much further nudging.

"I'm Takashi, family name Kurokami. I'm not a direct descendant of the Black Gods. I have Suiton, or water type, chakra. I sleep. Often." A pointed look from Shirotsuki notified him to indulge on his hobby. Sighing, he lifted his left hand, where there were four brush strokes creating the character for water. "It's my birthmark, but it is also the source of my immense chakra reserves. When I sleep, my chakra production increases by one hundred percent. The surplus chakra is stored into my birthmark. I'm also the Ookamika's best assassin - it's what I'm almost always commissioned for. We make the Alpha Squad, Jigoku-sama's strongest team. You are on the team solely because the potential your Kekkei Genkai has. Jigoku-sama strongly believes you will achieve the fourth state, which nobody here is capable of yet, though many aspire to surpass your eye."

"Wait, is - is the Genyou Senshi part of the Ookamika Clan?" Saori asked. Shirotsuki shrugged, flashing a grin that seemed so much like Deidara's.

"I know what you're thinking," intervened Takashi. "I'm told she does have the Mind's Eye. And, yes, I believe she only has been to the third state, which you probably know well of."

"Why would I…?"

"Takashi, now is not the time," Shirotsuki interrupted in a very direct manner. Takashi retreated without protest. "Well, then, I'm Shirotsuki, but I'm not a Black God like this fellow over here. I was a Chuunin in Kumo when I heard Jigoku's Call; I judge that I'm a jounin now that Jigoku has trained me. I wasn't going to answer his Call, much like you, because that was the first time I had heard of Jigoku or the clan. It took the Genyou Senshi to convince me to come.

"I'm the Ookamika's best strategist. I was always for the thinking and not the fighting. The Genyou Senshi, my full-blooded sister, blames my dislike for fighting on my laziness. She won't tell me her name or anything else. She's a little silly - her own brother, and she won't tell me a thing, ne?" Saori offered a small smile, which he took gladly. "You?"

Saori took a deep breath. What should she keep to herself? Surely Jigoku knew everything about her, but that didn't mean Shirotsuki or Takashi had to know. "Ah… well! I'm told my mother was Naomi. According to a deceased Akatsuki, she was the village… er… prostitute. But she wasn't always like that, not according to him. When my maternal grandparents died, she didn't know what to do, and one bad thing lead to another, and the next thing she knew she was part of a brothel. My dad treated me as a servant - I mean, neither of you guys have lived in the Ookamika compound in Suna, but I'm sure you've heard - that kind of thing was normal. That was the strange kind of life the Ookamika led, men on top and women on bottom."

Saori could only curse her own naïveté. How she could have lived six years in belief the way she lived life was right, she did not know. She had a rude awakening when genin from Sunagakure came to the village escorted by chuunin to learn about Wind Country's culture. One of the genin had been particularly snobby-looking and overflowing with self-confidence. Saori had seen the way the men looked at the girl, whose name was Benihana. They looked down on her, disliked that she was able to stride so proudly and hated they were unable to set the girl back in line as they could not fight Suna. Benihana had seen the way that Saori had to kneel before her father, how she was his servant. _"You're his daughter. Keep your tail out from your legs and demand for some respect,"_ Benihana had snapped at Saori, one of the many daughters Benihana found shameful. For some stranger to question the way of life was extremely confusing, but she listened regardless, since she didn't know any better. It took several more weeks before Saori began to open her eyes, when her ignorance began to fade away. Her father had noticed the change and was furious, naturally, and the more he yelled at her the more she rebelled. Jigoku took Saori as his student as to give her protection, having been able to see what was coming. It only infuriated Saori's father more, and probably further agitated the animosity the Tsukiyomi had felt for the Amaterasu.

It was only a matter of time before Jigoku would have to cast her out of the village for the sake of her life. For the first time, she was asked to go outside of the Ookamika compound to Suna on orders to gather supplies with the rest of her fellow servants. She hadn't questioned it at the time, even though she knew Ookamika sustained themselves, even though she knew servants never left the compound. She had taken all of her world's possessions with her, as Jigoku had instructed her - a small notebook Benihana had given her, her ink stick and worn brush, and the red choker her mother had left her, given to her by a blue-haired kunoichi that worked for Saori's father.

In midst of her excitement for visiting Suna and possibly seeing Benihana, Saori had missed Jigoku's orders of staying in Suna until someone retrieved them. In spite of the other servants' warnings, Saori rand back home, only to find a raging fire consuming the place she had called home. There were still screams coming from within the compound; with just one glance, she knew what Jigoku had done, why she had gone to Suna for the first time, why the other servants warned her not to go back. She hadn't known, however, that the Genyou Senshi had been ordered to ensure Saori's stay in Suna and that she enroll into Suna's ninja training system as soon as possible, that the Genyou Senshi had fled upon finding Saori amiss. Saori ran from the carnage, not the slightest bit concerned about the whereabouts of her father, clutching her four most prized possessions in the world with a heavy heart. She hid in the desert for one and a half desolate days, attempting to flee into Fire Country. Two days into her isolation, she heard Jigoku's Call, the inexplicable want to reunite with him. Instead, she ignored him, feared him, and fled northward. It was some time later and much luck when came collapsed near Iwa, the Hidden Stone Village.

The night she collapsed on the main roadway in and out of Iwa, a blonde haired woman - so she had believed - generously offered Saori her former home. Saori was much too tired to question this sudden generosity. Rudely awaken in the wee hours of the morning, the Iwa officials had placed her in irons and did a thorough inspection of the apartment she'd been sleeping in. They would never find anything, as its former occupant was no fool when she (or he) left Iwa. Saori was to be promptly deported out of the country, having gotten in without permission of the Tsuchikage or the Tsuchi Daimyo, when the Tsuchikage pardoned her and had her immediately enrolled into the local academy on the sole basis of her chakra type, unusual for Iwagakure shinobi.

The trials of academy life had not been all too challenging but none too fun, either. From the first day, she'd been labeled as a potentially bad influence, something her classmates had picked up from their parents' gossip. Saori quickly learned to dye her hair black after day one at the school. She claimed amnesia when Iwa officials had asked her for her name, and so they simply called her "foreigner." That is, until Ootowari Toyotomi had come along.

Toyotomi was then ten, three years her senior, and was privately tutored by the jounin Mikaiyo, having graduated from Iwa's academy after three years of enrollment, from six to nine. He arrogantly refused to be a part of any genin teams at the time, and went on D-Rank and C-Rank missions as a fill-in when there was a team member short or alone with Mikaiyo as part of his training. All of this he was perfectly capable of, as any other Ootowari prodigy should be.

When he had heard of Saori's arrival, he only had interests in her motives, none of which he believed were innocent. It was his mother who convinced him to arrange an introductory meeting with Saori - it was not the first time; Toyotomi's mother was usually the one pushing him to do things that he really did not want to do but he benefitted from anyways. Saori would always remember the first time she met him, up in a more mountainous area north of Iwa at the end of her lunch break. Even at the age of ten, he left a deep impression on Saori. He introduced himself and was the friendliest person she had come across since that woman (or man) who offered his or her home to her. He outright told her that he did not believe in her amnesia claim, and suggested something simple and pretty like the sky. Like Sora. She had gone by that name since then, up until her imprisonment for treason.

Toyotomi had walked her to shuriken practice, where he won the hearts of many of Saori's classmates (mostly female hearts; the boys were rather annoyed) displaying his amazing accuracy. Saori found herself quite annoyed herself; whenever she would make wonderfully precise and accurate throws, Toyotomi would displace each of her own shuriken and be more accurate than she. He stayed with her for what remained of the school day, and walked her home. She, in turn, showed him her fire jutsu as promised. If Toyotomi used it as a test, she could confidently say she passed with flying colors. She was just eleven when Toyotomi pulled her out of school early to be a member of his team.

"Aren't you leaving the whole part about your escapade with Deidara and the other two?" Shirotsuki smirked.

"You don't need to know about that," Saori glared at him. He held his arms up in playful defeat; on the sides of his arms she could see a long seam and stitches keeping the skin together. "What happened?" She inquired. It seemed neat and precise, too neat for a battle wound.

"Oh, yes, this! We're the Ookamika elite. Jigoku-sama has a knack for telling who'll go far and who won't way ahead of time. I mean, seriously ahead of time. He knew I was going to be super brilliant, like I am, but I was a Kumo soldier then. He couldn't just take me and run," he laughed, though his companions didn't join me. The glazed look over their eyes hinted their minds were elsewhere. "Anyways!" he barked loudly. "Since he knows talent when he sees it, he, ah, labels you. Since he knew you when you were younger, he probably already implanted your 'Last Resort.'"

"Last Resort?" Saori mumbled.

"It's not really a last resort, but you're not really supposed to use it as anything but a last resort. All Ookamika elites have one. Because I was like eighteen years too old when I met Jigoku and because I was under the Kumo flag when I was younger, I had to have mine sewed in - see?" One moment, Saori was staring at his stitched arm, doing her best not to puke. In the next moment, a vicious-looking four-edged blade sprang from the stitches from both of his arms.

"_That's_ in your arm?"

"No, silly, I have a summoning script in my arm. It's in there so there is no way to remove it, unless my arm gets cut off. Mine will only react if I force my chakra to my arms. Yours should react when you flare your chakra right, if he had it fixed into you genetically when he trained you. Takashi, show her yours." Takashi held up his left hand, where his birthmark marred his skin. Saori felt a flare of his chakra, and soon had to duck out of the way from an icicle protruding from his tattoo. The ice wrapped up to protect his arm from outside damage.

"How will I know how I should flare my chakra?"

"Nothing too flashy," added Takashi. "Usually you only flare a little of your chakra, so it feels effortless. Just do it as you feel you should." The two boys felt it; but nothing happened. She tried again, yet nothing happened. "Em. Maybe he didn't give you one when you were younger?"

"How would I know?"

"You won't. You wouldn't know when he does it. I had no idea he'd done it to me until he yelled at me for _not_ using it. He's probably gone out again, so when he comes back, you ask him if he did. Or you could try the Genyou Senshi, she probably knows." Saori gave him an unpleasant expression. "You're going to have to warm up with her at one time or another, so you might as well get a head start."

"Why? Can't I just pretend she's not there?"

"We can, but you can't. Your mind abilities are just about the greatest thing about you. The only thing great about you. Because other than that, you only have your basic fire techniques, where you stand in the shadow of the Uchiha, and your absorption technique, which is useless if you don't have a good offensive or defensive jutsu to expend your extra chakra with. There isn't a better teacher here than the Genyou Senshi. Jigoku was born with his third state eyes, so he's never needed to cross the evolution gap. But no one has ever bridged the evolution gap faster than she. A month is all it took." A month! A month was by far incredible. Some could train for years before giving up and believing their evolution had ended. "Either you choose the easy way, or you choose the hard way, which is you learn on your own. There's another guy here that has a third state eye but he's a little senile. He's an Amaterasu like you. You probably saw him all the time when you were a kid, but you just didn't know it."

Shirotsuki slowly nodded approvingly. "You kids seem to be getting along fine, so I'm going to go -"

Takashi flashed to the door before Shirotsuki had budged. "No, _you_ give her the tour. _I'm_ going to sleep. _I_ really need it." Shirotsuki groaned before muttering a directive to Saori to follow him. The pair went down a floor again, where there were more people, but they kept quiet.

"This is where the elite stay. When I speak of the elite, I mean the members of the top six teams, captains of divisions, and the captains of subdivisions." The Ookamika survived through commissions, competing with shinobi villages for jobs; usually, the commissioners gave the Ookamika the dirtier jobs, because they were cheaper than criminal organizations like the Akatsuki but saved the face of the commissioners.

There were currently five main divisions, each of them headed by a member of either the Alpha Squad or the Beta Squad. The number of members on teams was based on who worked with whom best, but generally were kept to three. Saori was to displace the squad leader of the seventh squadron as the captain of the Espionage division. Shirotsuki was the captain of the Battle Tactics division, the only division that was closely scrutinized by Jigoku for fear of lost of secrets and tactics. Takashi was the captain of the Assassin division. Within his division, there was a subdivision made mostly of women who used seduction to murder their targets. This was headed by Ookamika Tamaika, quite the deadly woman in her twenties, marked for death in the old Ookamika Clan for a beauty mark under her left eye. She was relatively tolerable to most. "You might not want to believe it, but Tamaika doesn't have to do dirty work to get her targets. She can get their guards down in thirty seconds, and then they'll be dead in another fifteen, before she even gets to the bedroom. That's why she's the squad leader of the fourth squadron. Usually captains of subdivisions are members of the fourth, fifth, and sixth squads, but hardly ever squad leaders. The squad leaders of the third, fifth, and sixth teams are captains of minor divisions."

Next was a pair of twins. Their names were Hikari and Tomomi. When Saori heard Tomomi's name, and then saw him, she could not help but stare at how similar he looked and how similar his name was to that of Toyotomi. Tomomi stared straight back at her; he must have known what was going on in her head; the elite tended to know everything about other elite save for the Genyou Senshi, and Toyotomi's death and its impact on Saori was no unfamiliar gossip topic. "Hi! I'm Hikari," the girl of the pair said loudly, hoping to keep Saori from staring at her brother oddly. "I'm a Tsukiyomi. This is Tomomi. He usually lets me do the talking because I love talking! Anyways, he's an Amaterasu like you and I should hate him but I really don't, I mean, I don't hate you, either. I don't hate any Amaterasu, that's so silly! But ah, we usually do synchronized attacks, I mean, we're the best ones to do it, and we usually use this rope here so that we can tug each other out of harm's way and stuff. It's also our last resort. It's really strange, I mean, I thought it was supposed to be all genetic-y but I guess it is, because, like, we've had this rope ever since we were kids. When both of us flare our chakra, it hardens into metal, which we can reshape to our liking. Oh, yeah, we're the captains of the Thievery division, I mean, we did that all the time when we were younger, so I guess it only makes sense. But we're part of the Beta Squad. OH! Which, by the way, I've wanted to ask you, do you remember us?"

"Um, not really…," Saori hesitantly replied, quickly glancing at Shirotsuki.

"Are you sure? We were just babies then, freshly whisked from the chopping block. You know, because we're twins. Twins are like ultra-bad-luck according to tradition. Anyways. I hear you've got like the most epic Kekkei Genkai ever, so I want to see it sometime!"

"Ah, no, Hikari, you don't want her to show you her Mind's Eye. You won't like it, I promise," Shirotsuki interrupted. Somehow, he skillfully exited the twins' room. The last captain of the Tracking Division was a female. Saori's breath hitched when she saw the name plaque outside the door. The said captain was at her vanity table - Saori couldn't have expected any less of her. The Tracking captainess looked up and whistled.

"Wow. Eleven years have gone by and you look like crap," the Tracking captainess replied. There was no mistaking it; the coronet, the bow, the Kurokami symbol blazoned on her dress; the scratched out Suna headband wrapped around her waist only confirmed Saori's assumptions.

"Yeah. I've had a rough few weeks, Benihana."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Please review, as always!


	6. For the Sake of Pride

**Author's Note:** Damn, I'm really bad on this timeline thing. I cut this week's chapter a bit short. It seemed appropriate and plus I'd be spending another hour typing the rest DX

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter Five** For The Sake of Pride

"THEY _HAVE_ TO BE removed."

Pain's Rin'Negan eyes stared lifelessly at Madara, who shed his emotionless mask the moment he entered the top floor of Amegakure's highest tower. His sources had confirmed one element of the worst situation; Jigoku had snatched Ookamika Saori. Madara had kept tabs on the Genyou Senshi, too, having suspected her truest origins; now she also had returned to the Ookamika Clan. There was no doubt in Madara's mind that the Genyou Senshi would then train Ookamika Saori, and undoubtedly Saori would either match or surpass the Genyou Senshi's own Kekkei Genkai. Jigoku was taking more of Madara's time than he had any right to.

"Pain," Madara growled, removing the little wooden soldier that represented Pain from Kumo to Fire Country's coast, where he suspected the Ookamika had their hide out. "Remove Jigoku of the Ookamika Clan. Konan, remove the Genyou Senshi."

"That is unwise," Pain declared immediately. Konan stared at the ground quietly, knowing perfectly why Pain had spoken out against Madara; it was for her sake. "Jigoku will eventually seek me out. He does not want to mess in this war we're agitating; however, when we succeed, he knows we will remove him and his clan. He does not like waiting for death - he will come for it himself."

"You do not understand; the Ookamika are a potential hindrance to our success."

"The only hindrance that will not naturally remove herself is the Mind's Eye girl. The Genyou Senshi will not meddle until her own life is of concern. By the time she realizes she cannot wait any longer, we will be too powerful to do anything. The girl who has the Mind's Eye, Saori, however, is a young fool. She sticks her nose where it does not belong. Have her removed, and the Ookamika will pose no threat."

"You do not understand, _Nagato_, I need _certainty_. Jigoku knows his clan is facing the danger of existence. He will not simply ignore our plans. You and Konan will remove the Ookamika Clan completely. I will not have them wandering in the back of my mind. The last time I took one's death for granted, the brat came back. Destroy their home, obliterate their morale, force them into desperation. Ensure that Saori will not be learning to further her Kekkei Genkai. I trust you and Konan are capable of successfully completing this mission."

"There are many Ookamika. The two of us will not make it on our own."

Madara glared at Pain through his mask. It was not that Pain _could_ not take the Ookamika on his own - for he full well could - it was that Pain did not_ wish_ to do so. With Konan in the fight, his fearsome jutsu would put her life at risk. On top of that, he wanted to ensure Konan would be safe against the Genyou Senshi, a rather hard task while handling a few dozen talented shinobi, some of which were capable of messing with his mind. Konan's light paper jutsu would be a poor match against the Genyou Senshi's wind jutsu. Nevertheless, Madara backed down and agreed to Pain's request to send out Amegakure shinobi, the shinobi of the Hidden Rain Village, with him, alongside Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi to ensure a success. "Make sure that this is a quick massacre. Be done by nightfall. We must play possum until we're ready to force the nations back into submission."

Obediently, Pain and Konan accepted Madara's orders without further complaint, though a heavy feeling began to sink in Konan's heart. All along, since their congregation, they had picked out specific people to put out of their miseries. In reuniting both halves of Amegakure, many less specific people had been killed, but for a better sake. She was still unsure of Madara's true intentions, but wiping out a whole clan, especially one in which had been so dearly hanging on to its existence, seemed out of the ordinary for a mercenary organization like Akatsuki. Aside her, Pain offered her a warm gesture of reassurance. "We may not know his intentions, but we know our own. If he falls off the way, we can continue without him. The Ookamika Clan, I must agree, is a possible impediment to our goal of global peace. They must be eradicated."

Konan nodded so as to satisfy Pain, though she was not satisfied herself. _This is the clan of that Saori girl Deidara was with. Madara probably thinks that she read Deidara's and Sasori's minds, gleaned all there was to know about the Akatsuki, but that is no reason to be taking out the whole clan. If anything should be done, we should just kill that girl, maybe Jigoku too. _The sinking feeling only sank lower.

* * *

_THE BLOOD WAS POUNDING in her ears; the sand was giving way to soil, to plant life. At last, after two terrible days in the desert, she was at the borderline. With borderlines came the trouble of border patrols, however, such as the one coming her way. _Two chuunin and two genin, _the girl thought, fiercely concentrating. She had chakra, though she had never used it in actual combat. Jigoku had said she would not last in a shinobi fight. She didn't stand a chance. A little trickle of hope fed its way to her heart as the chakra signatures drew closer. One of them seemed so familiar! They had stopped - maybe they had sensed her? No - it seemed they were resting, probably the end of their shift. It was near sunset, however. _Possibly a double shift?

_Farther away, the said border patrol was seated in a circle, where one was starting a fire with twigs borrowed from Konoha's forests. The two youngest, the genin, began to scout out the area. _That… feels so familiar! _the girl thought. Slowly and subtly, the girl leaked out her chakra. The genin nearing her stopped short before suddenly vanishing. "You…! Saori!"_

_Saori looked up at the sea blue eyes of Benihana. "Benihana, I don't know what to do, I'm really scared, and there's no one and -! You should have seen it, it was awful!"_

"_Are you out of your mind?" Benihana hissed, pushing Saori down quickly. _

"_I don't know where to go!" _

"_You can't stay in Suna. You'll be arrested and probably executed like this!"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_You said you saw, didn't you? Your clan was fighting each other. One of your folk burned the compound down."_

"_I know, it was Jigoku-sama!"_

"_It doesn't matter who you say it is. If they find you, you're dead!"_

"_But why?"_

"_Look, an Ookamika was looking for you in Suna right after the fire. Suna keeps close tabs on all its clans, even the Ookamika. They know you've got Katon chakra."_

"_So… so they think that Ookamika is after me for arson? Who was it, was it Jigoku?"_

"_No, it was someone else. You heard Jigoku's Call, didn't you? Why didn't you just follow where it told you to go?"_

"_Ye - wait, how do you know about that…?"_

"_Of course I know, I heard it, too. That's irrelevant! Hurry, you have to get out of here."_

_Stubbornly, Saori shook her head. "Jigoku burned the compound down, killed all those people. I won't run to him! And anyways, if you heard his Call, that means you're a -"_

"_Irrelevant! Get out of here before someone notices you're here. You've let your chakra go out of control, someone is bound to feel it soon. Get out of Wind Country. Head north. Never come back."_

Saori laughed a little, "I guess I was never really good at listening, Benihana." Benihana offered a small smile before returning to her hair brushing duties. Saori couldn't help but think about how much more vain Benihana had become since they had first met in those far away days of Saori's childhood.

"Nope! You never were. I told you never to come back south, and look what you've gone and done. I suppose there's nothing you can really do about it; Jigoku really wanted to have you in his ranks. That potential of yours must really be something," Benihana continued.

"Well, she's very likely to achieve the fourth state. None of us here can do that," Shirotsuki put in, starting to feel strangely defensive. He was never very fond of Benihana, with all her hair brushing and coronet-fixing, not to mention the constant badgering of poor Takashi. To him, Benihana was a little witch in a brilliant costume. And he felt like he was the only one who saw it.

"Did Jigoku say anything about the fifth state?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Fifth state?" whispered a bewildered Saori.

"You know what fourth state is, right? If you have the chakra capacity, you can kill someone by forcing a complete mental shutdown. It's not guaranteed, though, and many are likely to escape that fate, even civilians. It's risky. By the way, if you _do_ achieve fourth state, don't use it without someone like me or Takashi as support and don't do it to more than one person at a time. The recovery time's too long. Your eye will be the death of you then." For some reason, Saori felt like it already was. "The fifth state gets rid of the possibility of failing to make the kill. It's also very risky. You can only practice in theory."

"Why? It'll be even more risky if I don't practice it!"

"Because you only get one try. The fifth state gets rid of the doubt because in exchange for your life, you guarantee the instant death of someone else." Benihana eyed Saori, who had become still while the morbid feeling sank under her skin. Certain death had a nice ring to it, but in exchange for her own life? And without the certainty of achieving the fifth state? Why would she even bother learning it in theory? As if reading her mind, probably because he actually could, Shirotsuki added, "That kind of power is the kind of thing you have to use against thugs like Uchiha Madara. You won't get him any other way."

"OI! Rumor has it that the laggard's here - I see." The three occupants turned to the newest guest in Benihana's quarters, a tall and aging woman. There was still some residue from the brown dye she'd applied to her hair perhaps some three days ago. Holding out her hand, she introduced herself, "Ookamika Tamaika. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ookamika Saori." Saori took her hand, then glanced at Shirotsuki, who seemed to be her crutch.

He laughed heartily and patted her on the back. "Don't freak out. Us elite know you because you're one of the maybe six folk who refused to come back for a long time. And because of your potential. Think about it, Jigoku waited nine years for you to take a spot on the Alpha Squad. That kind of thing doesn't happen every day."

"I see," Saori replied, though she didn't really at all.

"Hurry up and get some proper clothes on! Come down to the training rooms when you're ready," Tamaika ordered, already heading out.

"Whoa, wait a second, I'm not ready to fight -"

"Takashi says you can't activate your Last Resort, right? Well you're not going to get it by just sitting. The Genyou Senshi will be back soon, and then you'll have to start training your eye ASAP. So come on! Don't you want to know what it looks like?" Saori smiled at Tamaika's belligerent attitude and quickly returned to the room she'd first been brought into to clean up. Smiling seemed so foreign, but, as a quick glance in the mirror informed her, smiling was a nice change.

* * *

THEY WERE ON THE move again. Each of them was weary and tired, but they had to run. Risking capture by the other nations or the Akatsuki was sure to lead to death in some way or another. Behind Sakura, Hinata was panting. "Yamato-sensei!" hissed Sakura as to keep their volumes low. The other two members of their makeshift team stopped at Sakura's wish. Hinata gratefully took a seat on the forest floor. Or at least, on the floor of what remained of the forest. Sakura slipped off her black gloves, prepared to check for possible unknown injuries when Hinata swatted her hand away.

"I'm just running out of chakra," Hinata explained, breathless. Sakura eyed Sai, who she was sure had a snide remark ready. He remained silent, eyes trained on Hinata. Yamato surveyed the area and compared its remains to his hastily sketched map.

"Take a breather, Hinata. I think we all need it," Sai offered. Even in these bleak times, Sakura felt a little pride blossom inside at Sai's social growth. He might have lied through his teeth, but at least he was trying to comfort the Hyuuga heiress.

"We've covered a lot of ground the past few days," Yamato reviewed. "And we haven't come across a single survivor from Konoha. I'd imagine that some might have tried to go back, but I think it's too dangerous, not with the type of people our team is made of. Sai being part of Root, Hinata possibly being the Hyuuga clan leader" - Yamato came to regret saying this as Hinata winced in the corner of his eyes - "the late Godaime's apprentice, and a man with the Shodaime's jutsu. I'd say the Akatsuki would like to take us right about now."

"Then what should we do?" Sakura asked, exasperated. "We can't head into Suna, either."

"I say we head into Suna. They were our allies, so it's logical that that's where most of us survivors have gone off to," Yamato tried to reason. Sakura hadn't told anyone that her child resided in Suna, well hidden with Ebizo, nor did she plan to. It wasn't in her plans to lead the Akatsuki and the allied nations right to her child, either. Considering how Madara had personally come to murder Sasori, it was likely the same kind of merciless behavior would be displayed to her son, Tensai.

"No," Sakura argued, a harsh tone in her voice. "I told you already, Suna is ruled by the faction who ordered Tsunade-sama's and Gaara's assassination! It's too dangerous."

"Sakura…" There was definite regret and hesitation in Sai's voice. She had no idea how it happened, but Sai had become a true best friend to Sakura. She had always believed him to be a self-centered and clueless boy who would never be able to assimilate into normal society ever again, but he'd gone and proved her wrong, even becoming her friend. Then he began feeling as though it was his duty to do certain things. Such as being a voice of reason. "I think we should."

"Why?"

Taking a deep breath, Sai continued, "That Saori you spoke of… she comes from the Ookamika Clan. They've technically defected from Suna."

"And?"

"Well, I can only think of good things that could happen if we went to the old Ookamika village." Sakura could hardly muster a 'what.' Hide out in the old Ookamika village? There was bound to be little to no cover there, and it was blistering hot in the desert! Sai surely had gone insane. "Think about it. I have serious doubts the Ookamika is there right now -"

"They're dead, Sai."

"They're not. I'm in Root. I know." Well, Sai did have a point there. "But, there's still a chance they use their old village as a base. If we stay there, we might find an Ookamika who can take us to their home base. I know the Ookamika were never Konoha's allies; they're not friends of any other nation, either. If they were against Konoha, they would have come out and allied with the Akatsuki from the start. The ruins used to be a place for Root spies in Suna to meet up with Root of Konoha, but it's long since been abandoned. Nobody from Suna runs by. The Ookamika had very little effect on life in Suna, and I think most of them forgot after nine years. It has good cover and a network of underground tunnels and rooms. It's a good place to hide out. Also, other jounin know it's there. Maybe they'll swing by. Someone from Root will. The Ookamika provide a necessary fighting force for Konoha. It's a no-lose situation." A no-lose situation sounded nice and was a pleasant change for once to Sakura.

"Are you sure you know how to navigate through these tunnels?"

"I've never been there" - Inner Sakura screamed in rage - "but I am sure I will know when I get there."

"Even if Sai can't figure it out, I can. I've been there. Root isn't the only one who's used the place," interrupted Yamato. Sakura sighed. She wished to disassociate herself with both the Ookamika and Suna, but it seemed there was little choice, unless she wanted to head west of Bird Country to uncharted territory. Even that far from the main Shinobi lands, Madara's reach would still get them.

"Fine. Let's go there." The four were back on their sore feet again. _Let's see what nightmare Saori ran from nine years ago.

* * *

_

TENTEN WAS LESS THAN happy about the whole affair. Team Gai was returning home from a long and tiring mission abroad when they came upon Konoha in shambles. Maito Gai and Rock Lee jumped into the fray without so much as thinking, their beastly pride at stake. Neji immediately was after Hyuuga Hinata, the blood of the Hyuuga Clan. Torn between going with her sensei and her teammate, Tenten had chosen to follow Neji. They miraculously stuck together through the chaos, but they lost contact with Hinata.

Worryingly, Tenten chanced a glance at her genius of a teammate. He was by far stressed, but he couldn't be blamed; he witnessed the murder of the Hyuuga Clan's leader, his uncle and Hinata's father. If Hinata was killed…

"Neji…," Neji nearly whispered. This behavior was very much unlike Neji and deviated from his usually calm demeanor.

"It's not going to be alright, Tenten," replied Neji, his voice worn and hoarse. "I'm doubting my own abilities, I can't think of any solutions… I am collapsing." Tenten gently rested her roughened hand on his shoulder, both of their attire and hair covered in dirt and grime. Instinctively, Neji leaned into her, feeling as pathetic as ever.

"You'll get through this. I know you will. It's a tough time we're going through. You don't have to be strong for anyone else but yourself. We're going to show the Akatsuki and the world what we're made of. We're going to find Hinata and protect her. We're going to make Gai-sensei and doofus Lee proud of us. You got it?"

Neji's blank eyes stared at Tenten with wonder. She stiffened, feeling his gaze wash over her face. 'How can you say things like that, with such certainty?"

"Because I have faith. Faith in you. Faith in us."

Neji's lips cracked open slightly, his hand reaching tentatively for her cheek. Midway there, he stopped, blinking a few times. Slowly, he sat back up. "Tenten…," he started. Tenten appeared perfectly calm, but underneath she was screaming hundreds of things at once. What was that look for? What was he going to say? She caught herself hoping it was a three word phrase. Seriously? How could she be thinking about that? _He's your teammate, idiot! _Tenten snapped at herself. She had never thought of Neji in any other way - perhaps she idolized his genius from time to time - nor did she believe she had reason to think of him any other way. _I guess that's what the end of the world does to some people. I haven't even been on a date yet._

Sighing, Neji continued, "Let's get going."

"Right." Both got to their feet without the assistance of the other. Suddenly, warmth filled the empty space around Tenten's hand. She looked at Neji questioningly, but he only had eyes for their joined hands. Tenten fought down a laugh - a half year ago she would have bitten to get her hand free. But now… it felt okay.

"I don't even know where to go… Iwa, Kumo, Suna, and Kiri are in with Akatsuki. I am positive I sighted Kusa and Taki hitai-ate in the attack against Konoha as well. That leaves Ame… the isolated land."

"But you know…"

"I know. The Akatsuki's leader is thought to reside there. Perhaps there is an advantage to living right under their noses. They will expect infiltrations, but not for as long as I should think we will be staying. Will you stay with me, Tenten? For our fallen fool and our fallen teacher?" Tenten gave up trying to think otherwise. Neji was definitely insane. A slight twitch at the corners of his lips confirmed it. "Your answer, my dearest wife?"

Smiling, she gleefully replied, "I shall stay with you for the rest of eternity, my dearest husband."

Neji broke out into a full, silly grin, sweeping Tenten off her feet as if she truly were his wife. "We will have to get some commoner apparel. I hear they can be terribly uncomfortable."

Laughing, she added, "A true shame!" Never did Tenten ever believe she'd see a Hyuuga Neji as the one before her but she was happy that she did. Even as insane as he seemed to have gotten, she wouldn't have chosen any other to be her partner on this suicidal mission. The things the world's end could do to some…!

* * *

PERHAPS IT WAS GOOD that Saori and Tamaika fought, or else Saori would have realized too late just how out of shape she had become. She had quickly run back to don the red vest that had been waiting for her earlier, grabbing kunai, shuriken, flash bombs, and bomb seals and snapping on her gold belt on her way out. Tamaika was no easy opponent; she was on Saori in a flash, letting Saori know just what a few weeks unconscious and inactive could do to a honed shinobi's body. Her reflexes truly appalled Saori in its inability to kick in faster, and her muscles had seriously degraded. She couldn't get back to fighting with a gold belt on either - the same gold belt she'd worn for twelve years. Chakra and stamina were disappearing all too quickly.

_She doesn't use elemental jutsu,_ analyzed Saori, _so that means my ace, the Ninja Art of Chakra Type Absorption, is out of the playing field. She's good at dodging, too, so any form of fire jutsu I shoot her way won't work because it's too direct and obvious, unless I create an opening… which isn't going to happen any time soon._ Saori narrowly missed a rather obvious kick.

"Off your game, huh?" sneered Tamaika.

"Talk after I knock you out for a few weeks and see what it feels like," Saori snapped with evident annoyance. She didn't take stabs to her pride too well; hardly any Ookamika did. She suddenly gasped back to her feet, clutching her torso; her gold belt had cut through two layers of fabric into her side. How she had fought with it on all this time was beyond her.

"True shinobi can fight in anything. It is your fault for choosing such galling apparel," Tamaika replied, none too pleased about Saori's nasty comment.

"Didn't know I would be headed for a fashion show," Saori retorted. The tensions were increasing, as was the animosity between the woman and the girl, both with biting attitudes and deadly precision. Members of Tamaika's subdivision hesitated to cheer for their captain. _My one obvious advantage,_ continued Saori as she nearly landed a kick to the ribs, _is my Kekkei Genkai. But that's what she expects and probably wants me to use. _Saori glanced warily at her opponent's expression, trying to read her. At first glance, Tamaika's offer to spar to uncover Saori's Last Resort seemed hopelessly innocent and selfless. But Tamaika grievously underestimated Saori's ability to read opponents without a handicap such as her Kekkei Genkai. Tamaika was an arrogant, that much Saori knew. From the way she was fighting, strictly to tactics a deft spy would use, she was out to prove something, most likely to prove that she was a better choice to lead the Espionage division than Saori. If she could prove this, not only did she truly stand amongst the Ookamika elite, but she would gain the respect, admiration, and glory for defeating Saori's Mind's Eye, supposedly the strongest seen in awhile… granted that Saori submitted to Tamaika and used her Mind's Eye. Saori could feel her temper rising from her realization. _Don't let her win. Think of your pride. Protect it!_

Flesh connected with flesh in a most unpleasant manner. One blocked kick would not stop Tamaika from kicking with her other, as Saori had anticipated. Tamaika's groan of pain was just as unpleasant as her now twisted ankle, courtesy of Saori. Tamaika barely had enough time to grab Saori's forearm barehanded, an enflamed arm just centimeters from her face. Saori forced her chakra to her imprisoned arm, but Tamaika showed het true taijutsu prowess. "You got lucky," Tamaika hissed, ignoring the pain in such a way it didn't seem like there was any at all. "Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Same to you. I don't need my Kekkei Genkai to read you like an open book. Glory's elsewhere. You won't find it from me."

"Shut… up!" Tamaika roared, landing a kick in Saori's stomach. Despite every urge to scream, Saori swallowed the pain down for the sake of her pride. Her shoulder felt inflamed, and probably dislocated from the sudden, quick, and violent movement and Tamaika's death grip on Saori's forearm. Tamaika's hand was surely burnt by now, but like a true shinobi, she ignored the pain. _I have to give her points for that,_ Saori thought as she gritted her teeth. "I'm not done yet."

Out of nowhere, a silver blade protruded from Tamaika's glove. Saori's bicep soon joined her shoulder on a list of things that hurt like hell. Blood oozed between Tamaika's fingers, lodged deep in Saori's bicep, blade an all. Saori's arm, still flaming, flickered, the flames beginning to die down from a lack of sufficient chakra supply. "Chakra running low, hm?" Tamaika teased.

Ripping her gold belt from its rather uncomfortable position in her side, Saori snarled, "Hardly!" She proceeded to make a vibrant display of her chakra supply. Tamaika winced slightly form the sudden pressure one or two feet away from her face, which was to be expected. What wasn't expected was the suddenly less-painful-to-hold belt in Saori's hand. Glancing down, there was now a gold lance in her grip. Considering precision and accuracy was one of few strong points for Saori the lance seemed like a Godsend.

Tamaika recognized it in an instant. Most Ookamika had some sort of blade for a Last Resort, much like Tamaika, whose Last Resort was hidden by her sleeves. _If I keep close, she won't be able to throw that at me. I'm better at evasion than precision, so if she gets the opportunity to throw it I should be able to dodge it without problems. But that's true if and only if her speed is slower than mine. And considering what she herself proclaimed, sit wouldn't surprise me if she is faster. I guess I brought this upon myself, though I hadn't anticipated she'd find her Last Resort before she would be forced to use the Mind's Eye. The only thing I've got up on her now is that I only showed her half my Last Resort. But now that she's aware what I can do with my right hand, she'll probably assume I can do it with my left anyways. My best bet…_

Saori reacted much faster with renewed confidence, completely stopping Tamaika's kick with her lance, which was snugly stuck between the heel and the sole of Tamaika's boots. Tamaika knew bad news when she saw it. Before Tamaika could use Saori's block against her, Saori lunged forward, pushing the stuck lance with her body weight, effectively bending Tamaika's foot in ways it was never meant to be pushed. Tamaika would only grunt, refusing to scream, to surrender. "Gonna… have to… try… better… than that!"

Tamaika's left Last Resort was after Saori's throat in an instant. Saori wrenched the lance free in an instant, barely managing to evade Tamaika's fatal attack. The sensitive skin just to the left of her right shoulder was nicked, Saori's aorta safe from Tamaika, very much to Saori's relief. Some meters away, Tamaika sat on the ground, nursing her left foot as Saori kept reaching for her neck, just to make sure it hadn't been cut. Without any remorse, Saori lifted her lance to make what was sure to be a death blow - Tamaika's inability to evade properly, such close range - Saori's pride would never recover if she missed.

But her pride would not get the chance to be put to risk. She made all the movements to throw but the lance's movements were hindered by the gray-gloved hand of the Genyou Senshi. Immediately, the color drained from Saori's face. If the Genyou Senshi intended to fight, Saori didn't stand a chance! "We do not give certain death blows to immobile warriors, much less kin. She may not look like it and she may not act like it, but that woman is your flesh and blood. We school emotions, not live by them," said the Genyou Senshi.

The entirety of the training area occupied by Tamaika and Saori was quiet. These words, which held such captivating power, were of Jigoku's dictum, which he had given almost eighty years ago, when he was just a young boy leading a newborn clan during its first civil dispute. Decades having passed, the dictum was mostly ignored and forgotten. Such words pulled at the Ookamika pride that resided in all of its members. Slowly getting to her knees, Saori said, "Thank you for your offer to spar with me. It is my deepest apologies that I led myself blind. I will have learned better when we cross blades again."

Regardless of what the Genyou Senshi expected of her, Tamaika also bowed. "I will not let my arrogance overwhelm me as you have witnessed on this ugly day. IT is my deepest apology. I have accepted yours. I have faith that you will keep to your word."

"As do I. Allow us to be a better people for the sake of tomorrow." Tamaika nodded once before gathering her shattered pride and exiting the eerily quiet grounds.

"She might have faith but I don't. We've no time for your self-loathing. You've wasted enough of my time as is." Knowing better than to argue or snap, Saori obediently but reluctantly followed the Genyou Senshi to a smaller indoor room. It was bare of furniture, save for two cushions on the floor. Following the Genyou Senshi's example by sitting, she waited for her next order. "Cross your legs." Placing a kunai between them, the Genyou Senshi continued, "I will use my second state Mind's Eye to make you use this kunai to cut your throat. You will try to do the same to me. You have no concern for my life, only for yours."

Saori tried to ignore the hairs on her neck, sensing the obvious danger. The Genyou Senshi seemed to contemplate something for a moment before adding, "To get from first state to second state, you had to force your thoughts into Jigoku's mind when he trained you until you could regularly communicate with him in his mind. The same goes here. You must force your thoughts into my head. You must concentrate, and essentially convince my mind to pick up that kunai and slit my own throat. You will feel how I attempt to persuade your mind to do the same. Learn from what I do. You are proud of your precision, are you not? Defend it, or I will crush it.

"Above all, never lose concentration. This training session ends when I run out of chakra. Whether that is at twenty two hundred or two, it will not end prematurely. This" - The Genyou Senshi stuck a talisman to Saori's forehead - "will keep your chakra from reaching zero. I will be using very little chakra and I will have no mind barriers. It should make your job easier. In spite of this, if you break your concentration for whatever reason - whether you are tired or hunger 0 there's a chance I will not be able to stop myself, and you **will** die. You are having it much easier than all your predecessors. You have **no** excuse not to achieve third state in a month. Protect that fathomable pride of yours, for your life hangs on it." Taking a deep breath, white displaced the gold of Saori's irises. In the next moment, Saori could feel the Genyou Senshi's consciousness push into her mind. Dusk had yet to fall, but Saori could already feel the strain.

* * *

A THERAPY JOURNAL. THE idea itself seemed idiotic to him. Wasn't his body the concern? His body was the one which was burnt to a crisp, not his mind. Furthermore, he couldn't imagine how writing would do any good for an arm sustaining multiple third degree burns. If he grimaced the slightest bit, he'd agitate the burns of equal severity on his face. Quietly, he ignored the voice in his head that reminded him of the title and honor he had recently lost.

Slowly and painstakingly, the boy reached for his brush, biting down the pain, absolutely refusing to scream. In a seat at his bedside sat his lone faithful servant, Akari. He'd given her strict instructions not to assist him, but so faithful was she that she could not seem to follow his orders in favor of his welfare. "Dono, let me help you. Please." The boy glanced at Akari through one visible red eye. "You mustn't agitate your wounds," she quickly added.

Sighing (none too roughly), he conceded in defeat. She prepared ink from water and his ink stick, gently and delicately dipping his brush in the ink before carefully placing it in his grip. "This would be much easier if I just had a…" He didn't want to think about it. Just a thought would incite rage and pain, both of which he had plenty of as is. Akari nodded with sympathy. It just wasn't fair! First he had been set up to murder someone he treasured; not only did he not acquire the jounin rank he was assured, but he had suffered these horrid burns which had received little not no medical attention. After his fatal battle had concluded, medics arrived on scene - apparently by order of his sensei - and immediately began treatment, only to be stopped by his damned cousin. She pulled rank on his sensei, and proceeded to order termination on his treatment. He'd always known her as a foul and deceitful woman, but this was above and beyond. It did not ameliorate his rage any when he woke half a month later with a dry throat, hunger pangs, and in more pain than many might experience in a lifetime. Akari, who was far from being a medic, had been the only one allowed to see to him., The following day he had been informed that the village elders had praised his cousin for stopping his medical treatment and gave her the honorable title that had almost been guaranteed to be his. Almost.

"Dono?" Akari queried, noting the shaking of his hands.

"I want… I want to walk."

"Go outside? Let me get your wheelchair…"

"No!" he snapped, nearly frightening the wits out of the servant. "I want to walk… with my own two feet."

"You can't!" Akari argued, already up in arms. "Your body can't handle it. You have to wait!"

"It's been over half a year. That title has been promised to my cousin but it's not entirely hers yet. I can still take it back, Akari. There's a decisive battle coming - if I come home a war hero, I'll take my title back. But writing crap and sitting here isn't going to help. I need to be ready to fight when the time comes. You know me. The injury to my pride is greater than any physical injury." It was Akari's turn to concede.

"Will you let me help you, at least?"

"…Yes."

"Dono, you're going to kill me one day," she sighed, reaching for his lone uninjured arm. He nearly smirked, had his burns forgotten to r remind him of their existence. Slowly but steadily, he made it to his feet, Akari guiding him patiently. The pain was overwhelming, but he forced it out of his mind, focusing on three words someone had said in his defense: _"He will be."

* * *

_

_Please review!  
_


	7. Missed

**Author's Note:** I am so late! I'm sorry the few who actually read . Two weeks ago, I didn't have it finished in handwritten form; last week, I only got the first page typed. But this week it's all typed! I thought it was pretty long but apparently not so. The original chapter six is much longer, but I didn't type that up. It will be part of chapter seven. It seems I have a tendency to type less than I write, lol!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Naruto! Just plotline and my OCs.

* * *

**Chapter Six** Missed

SAKURA WIPED THE SOILED blade of her wakizashi onto the apparel of the deceased Kumo shinobi before her. This was the second enemy unit her makeshift cell had come across. Things just seemed to get worse and worse. She sat her tired body, taking a three sixty to note the conditions of her teammates. She was proud of them, going through all this crap without complaint. She doubted she could be in a better cell – well, perhaps, if Kakashi and even Naruto were here. Though Naruto would've blown a top if he knew she had a child with an infamous S-Ranked criminal, he would support her. As of yet, Hinata was the only one to support Sakura. Sai was indifferent and Yamato was unsure, but all of them made sure to avoid awkwardness. Sai, in fact, went as far as to inquire about her six month adventure with missing-nin, both the large fish and the small fry. Which was most likely the cause of Sai's approach, as he had no evident injuries on him whatsoever.

"Haruno," he greeted, taking a seat by her. Boy, was she glad he dropped the "hag" nickname.

"You alright?" Sakura asked, though it was rhetorical.

Sai shrugged, reaching for his water canteen. "Mostly. Though, I do not understand, from your account, why that boy…"

"Toyotomi?" Sakura offered.

"Yes, him. I do not understand his frustration at his inability to clear your friend, Saori. It does not seem to me he like her so much as a person."

"Because he liked her!"

"That is not how one expresses love, I am taught."

"Different people express love in different ways, Sai."

"How can you be sure?"

"Well.. he did go out of his way to get her some fresh air. She'd be gone for hours at a time, always in a pleasant mood. She described these outings to me. I think it most definitely suggests affection on his part. Plus, I think he was the reason Deidara and Saori were not immediately executed."

"Deidara too? Elaborate."

* * *

_SAKURA STARED HOPLESSLY ACROSS at Deidara. With Sakura's guidance, Saori was able to properly rebind Deidara's more urgent injuries from rips of Deidara's clothing and from a roll of bandages that had mysteriously hidden itself in an extra loaf of bread which Saori had received. Deidara was gaining back some color in his flesh though he spent less and less time awake as compared to the time he spent asleep. How long they had been in prison, no one seemed to know. There had been on particular day when there were absolutely no guards present, their absence unexplained. They came back drunk. Sakura nearly regurgitated right there, recalling all too clearly the vulgar behavior they had displayed. They played mind games with her, only her, teasing her and treating her like some tenant of a brothel. If it had gone any further, they probably would've have removed her from her cell. They had made fun of her resistance, her angry replies, and completely disrespected her. But Sasori had told them off, strangely enough, threatening that a few measly bars weren't going to stop him, not if he was angry and impatient. They believed him. She had been grateful that one time, but she refused to even thank Sasori. He did not seem to care, glaring at the guards until they had retreated to the end of the hall, where they were normally stationed._

"_Will he be alright?" The sudden intrusion of a male voice startled Saori to her feet. From Sasori's impassive expression, Sakura assumed he was the only one to notice Toyotomi's silent approach._

"_Toyotomi?" inquired Saori._

"_Will he? I, I can try to get the medics -"_

"_They won't come," interrupted Sasori, whose thin eyebrow was perched slightly askew to give the impression he found the situation slightly amusing. Toyotomi only glanced his way, knowing that much was true._

"_Did… Did you give me those bandages?" Saori asked._

"_Yeah…," he replied with a hint of innocent embarrassment._

"_Thank you. Really, Toyo, thank you."_

"_Yeah, yeah." Out of habit, Toyotomi rubbed the back of his neck. "So, um, I asked if I could, ah, take you out for a bit. Fresh air and stuff. And, ah, well, now I just need to know if you want to. Erm, go get some air." Sasori's eyebrows arched further in amusement. They just didn't make boys the way they used to. Saori turned away, toward Deidara's direction. It wasn't long before Sakura knew why. The pink-haired kunoichi could feel Saori's presence in her mind._

"Anything you two want me to do?"_She supposed Saori was addressing Sasori in his own conscience as well._

"Food! Anything of nutritional value or that can fill the stomach," _ Sakura immediately replied._ "Medicine, if you can find it. Deidara needs rubbing alcohol or iodine as soon as possible."

"Alright," _came Saori's tired response. _"Akasuna?"

"A way **out** of here, obviously," _he hissed loudly enough for his thoughts to echo through Saori's mind to Sakura. Saori glared at Sasori from the corner of her eyes, allowing him to glimpse at the black iris upon a sheet of gold before they returned to their normal colors._

"_Are you sure you can take me out" Saori asked Toyotomi, not turning to face him._

"_Yeah! Besides, I can easily detain you if I have to."_

_Saori smiled, "Yeah, yeah, don't remind me, I'm still sore from our fight all that time ago." Toyotomi took her remark as compliance; as he removed her shackles, Saori casted a glance at Sakura, who gave her a reassuring smile. The former teammates left soon after. She was thoroughly searched before leaving the floor, and her wrists found home in a new set of chakra-sucking shackles, though it was less powerful than the first in terms of its chakra sucking capabilities. Guards removed all the potentially harmful materials from her possession, which were the gold necklace she wore often and her ninja hitai-ate. Toyotomi opened an umbrella, knowing the light would be a harsh change for her eyes which had been trapped in darkness. Saori inwardly smiled; the little things he did sent butterflies to her stomach. "So… where are we going?"_

"_My house," he returned. It wasn't so much a house, Saori inwardly noted. Quietly, he slipped his hand around her wrist, lightly tugging at it to indicate at which direction they were heading to, as if Saori or any other inhabitant of Iwa needed direction to the Ootowari's mansion. They were slow to get there; Saori wasn't sure if he was making sure she got plenty of fresh air or something else, but regardless, she kept her eyes peeled._ There's only one want to get out of the prison, through the front door, accessible only to a long corridor. We'll have to go through that, but there are twenty-five centimeter thick solid iron gates in that corridor alone that can be electronically triggered. Once someone sets off the panic button, all twelve gates will close. If we make it through that ,the only two routes out of Iwa is the front entrance, towards Kumo and Konoha, and to the Ootowari Estate, toward uncharted territory beyond Rock Country. Even here there's intense guard patrols along the canyon that separates the Ootowari Estate from the rest of Iwa.

_Speaking of which, Toyotomi, Saori, and their guard escorts had reached the canyon's edge on Iwa's side. Kilometers below was a river, small and shallow during the transition periods between winter and spring and fall and winter. It grew with strength as it ran to the sea, as all do, the north border to Fire Country from the end of Grass Country to the sea, through the Valley of End. Legend was that Hiroshima, the first Hokage, and Uchiha Madara caused the river to form, but that was all exaggeration. What they had caused in their fight was a steep elevation drop, which eventually became a waterfall. The river's source was a quaint and tranquil lake at the heart of a cluster of mountains in North Stone Country. During monsoon season, which starts in late March and ends in early May, the glaciers on the mountains melt and cause the river to nearly overflow for the next few months._

_After some exchange of words and a thorough search of Saori, the party began crossing the lone bridge that connected the Ootowari Estate to Iwa. Saori stared at the ground, knowing underneath there were several bomb seals that could be activated at a moment's notice. If the bombs did not kill her, once glance at the canyon below and rest assured, no one would survive that fall unless it was monsoon season, which was still awhile yet. Saori could feel her heart pounding the longer she stared at the canyon, a wave of relief washing over her when the bridge met its end. _

_Healthy greens and vivid colors were the first things to greet her eyes. Toyotomi beckoned her at the front entrance, having long left her wrist. She and her guard escorts complied without word, dirtied shoes touching grand, polished peach-tinted marble floors. Two semi-circular stairs bordered the semi-circular foyer. From the looks of the prison guards, she wasn't the only one in awe. "You said you needed to use the bathroom?" Toyotomi said all of a sudden._

_Saori glanced at him out of the corners of her eyes before replying without a hint of confusion or hesitation, "Yes, quite."_

"_It's just straight through on your right. Before I forget, I got you your jacket. Just in case you're cold. And be careful - the sink's edges are sharp and, ah, can cut you." Saori wrestled for control over the odd look she wanted to throw Toyotomi's way. Since when was that how sentences were formed? "I'll inform the butler that you're here. My mother wanted to meet you."_

_Saori nodded and entered the said bathroom, jacket in hand. She had no idea what Toyotomi was talking about - the jacket was not hers and was hideous in its bulky appearance and explosion of "…pockets," Saori slowly muttered to herself. She stared at the sink - it looked safe enough, sunken in glass. The corners were rounded and cuts didn't seem likely. "What the hell is he on?"_

_Getting onto her knees, she inspected the sink, a little smile creeping on her face._ Toyotomi, by God I love you sometimes. _Behind the sink, an assortment of useful items was hidden. The most noticeable item was the switchblade she could've easily cut herself on. She removed the tape which kept it hidden under the sink, stuffing it into one of the numerous pockets of the jacket. Next to come down was a brown label-less bottle. Unscrewing it, she took a sniff. _Iodine. _A roll of bandages, soldier pills, bomb seals, wires, gauze, tags with chakra sealed within them, and flash bombs were stuffed into the jacket, hidden into the cotton stuffing that explained the cause for the bulky look._ It's the end of winter, but it's still cold enough up north here to wear winter jackets. _Saori reached for the trigger to flush the toilet, to make it appear as though she had gone, but froze, feeling tape yet again. Slowly, she peeled it off. It seemed to glitter in her hands._ A key.

* * *

_Toyotomi had been waiting outside the room for her, and quickly ushered Saori away before the guards could inspect her or the bathroom. In the grand living room, a particularly beautiful woman, approximately in her late thirties, sat on the crème chaise. She had dark black hair and smaller than average eyes, the same Toyotomi had. "Mother, this is Saori. Or Sora," Toyotomi said as soon as they had reached the main living space. The woman, Toyotomi's mother, rose to her feet after what seemed like contemplation. _

"_It's nice to finally meet you, Ookamika Saori," she spoke. For a moment, Saori was transfixed by her voice._ Is this… the kind of person the Ootowari take as wives? Beautiful, confident, and great orators? _Saori ignored that she had none of the qualities that Toyotomi's mother had._

"_The pleasure is mine," Saori quickly replied, trying to keep her voice fluid like the elder's. It could not compare. Toyotomi's mother motioned towards the matching crème chaise across from her. Toyotomi gently pushed Saori to seat herself when she did not._

"_Toyotomi speaks of you from time to time. I am told you were quite impressive at that Chuunin Exam getup the Fire Country has running."_

"_Um, well, that's subjective…"_

"_Modest, too. I approve of your choice, Toyotomi." Saori's heart skipped several beats. What was this "choice" she was talking about? "It's a shame you have that Watanabe boy." Her hopes crashed into the floor. Still, she supposed, she should be delighted that such a sophisticated woman approved of her at all. "Likewise, it's unfortunate you've got yourself in such a situation, Saori."_

"_Indeed," Toyotomi half-muttered._

"_I tried to get you a temporary release," Toyotomi's mother continued, "as a rather critical mission came up. Kurotsuchi's team took it in place of yours, Toyotomi."_

"_My apologies," Saori quickly replied, sensing her motive for mentioning it._

"_It is quite a shame."  
_

"_Mother, if you don't mind…," Toyotomi interrupted. She blinked momentarily before waving Toyotomi to go. He motioned to Saori to follow. Once out of hearing range, he explained, "She gets intolerable after awhile." He led her upstairs, the upper floor just as stunning as the first in all its marble wonder. He opened a door on the right: a bedroom. Well kept, it appeared, no doubt at the hands of the maid service. On the grand cherry desk were various ink brushes, an inkwell, paper, and ninja tools. "This is my room."_

"_Y-your room?"_

"_Yes." Then, as he turned to the guards, "leave us." The door snapped shut behind them._

"_Isn't it… improper for me to be in here? You know, without supervision?" He gave her a disbelieving look before chuckling a little. She could be dead tomorrow, and she was concerned about society's rules._

'_there's something you should know," he started, having found seating at his window. "They want me to extract information from you." He studied her for a moment, but she offered no reaction. Insider, her heart sunk. "Clearly, you made it too easy. They don't believe a word of your confession, though you confessed precisely what they suspected you of, which is my concern. The precisely part."  
_

"_I figured you would find out eventually," Saori quietly added._

"_You had me quite confounded when you fought Rock Lee of Konoha in the second round of the Chuunin Selection Examinations. For a moment, I thought you had the Sharingan or one of the other legendary dojutsu Kekkei Genkai. But I've been watching. Whereas the Sharingan predicts moves, you actually know them, for certain. I have never told anyone of this. I kept this our secret."_

"…_Thank you."_

"_Understand my reasoning when I ask, just how many minds have you read while in Iwa?"_

"_Truthfully?" Saori asked._

"_It doesn't take a mind-reading ability to answer that."_

"_You wouldn't believe me if I said aside from the guards… none."_

"_No… I can believe that. I suspected it has a strong link to your past. I have not heard of the Ookamika Clan before I researched for abilities akin to yours."_

"_Are you angry?" He hated that she kept her eyes on the ground. "You, more than any one, I have deceived." She had been right about that. He had seen through her amnesia claim years ago, but that did not compare to the cheery, loyal girl he'd actually believed she was. That she was not a child born from poverty, that she had been running from an abusive father. No, she had been far from both assumptions; a child of the Ookamika, a prosperous clan who collapsed upon itself. He had believed every single part of her lie, her deception._

_Toyotomi snorted, clearly more than just annoyed. "You pulled wool over my eyes, made a fool of me. You made me believe that I thought I was figuring you out when I wasn't. I believed you were here to stay. You're practiced. No one lies without remorse and with a straight face for eight years without practice."_

_It hurt. Perhaps not as much as she had hurt his pride, but it was deleterious to her heart, too. "I did what I did to survive."_

"_To survive?" Something inside of him snapped. Was that the best lie she could give him? To survive? She did not need to deceive him to do so! "What else do you 'have' to do to survive? Screw S-Class missing-nin too? Or, or, pretend to be a hero to Konoha? Hang on every word of an internationally wanted criminal?"_

"_Why would you even ask that?" she snapped. She only referred to one of his outraged questions, ones he had meant to keep to himself._

"_They found an article of your clothing in his possession at the time of capture. I didn't think you had it in you when I found out. I really didn't believe it, scoffed at them for thinking so. But, really, I don't even know who you are!" His voice had escalated to a roar, leaving Saori to assume his walls were soundproof. He glared as viciously as he could, wondering if the mixture of hurt and anger in her own gold eyes was another deception meant to incite regret and guilt._

"_You _do _know me," she hoarsely replied. "I force a happier personality, I have skeletons in my closet. But I'm still the same underneath. I'm still stubborn, prideful, and sensitive. I am still faithful. I am still loyal to you. I still won't let you down." _

_At this point Toyotomi froze, those same words from two years ago drifting back to him. He had been fifteen then, and Saori twelve. Despite enduring some nasty injuries to her back and in dire need of immediate medical attention, Saori had refused to go back to Iwa, afraid of failing his expectations. He wanted a strong team, to flaunt his leadership skills and the brilliance of his team. She told him she would not fail him. That she would not let him down. "You've been labeled a traitor. You already let me down."_

"_If I have, then why? Why postpone my execution? In normal circumstances, I should be dead already." I t took no genius to sense the self-doubt rising in Toyotomi. Saori seized it. "You said you wanted strong people to support you. I don't have to be in Iwa, be an Iwa shinobi to do that."_

"_That's not..." He hesitated as his frustration escalated. "Damn it, Saori! I wanted… I had it all planned out. I'm afraid of losing." Mind reading or no, she knew just what he had been intending to say._

"_The time will come where you will have to fight for the Tsuchikage title. When that time comes, wherever I am, whether I have already moved on to the next life or just at the door, I will come back. I will make sure you get that title. You won't ever lose me."

* * *

_

"_And this one?" Saori queried._

"_It's a chrysanthemum. We make it into tea," Toyotomi answered. They had talked of various subjects after Toyotomi's burst of rage, little silly secrets Saori usually kept herself. She wasn't the type to openly share things about her life; having to put lies upon lies about her life to reassure herself, it was hard to open up. She wanted him to know who she really was. If she was to enter the other world soon, at least someone might know the kind of person she really was. She was a bit of a quirky girl; Toyotomi was quickly learning that he appreciated her individuality. He felt like for once in awhile he could forget about fighting his cousins for the Tsuchikage title when she shared fragments of her life._

_She had fallen asleep after hours of talking. He had a guard carry her back to her cell, leading the way and making sure she got back into the prison with her jacket uninspected. She slept through until a little after lunch time, when Toyotomi came to take her out again. She visited the Ootowari Estate frequently and did not speak to her inmates whatsoever. She kept on reminding herself to talk to them about the escape plan, but she never quite got to it. The most she had been able to do was put iodine on Deidara's wounds before Toyotomi would come to pick her up._

"_You guys have a diverse garden," Saori breathily sighed. There was that touch of wonder dancing in her eyes, the same he had seen when they were in the second part of the Chuunin Selection Exams. Accordingly to tradition, it had been a survival test. The objective was to retrieve a rare egg underneath Konoha and bring it back to the starting point. The egg Toyotomi had seen before, being privileged by his wealthy descent. It was nothing special to him. Saori, on the other hand, had stared at the delicate egg in complete transfixed wonder._

"_Yeah, well…"_

"_Something bothering you?"_

"_Are you sure you don't have anything up with Deidara and the Akatsuki?"_

_Saori's face fell. "I thought we went over this. I don't know how he got my underwear. The Tsuchikage said I have been living in Deidara's apartment all this time, though I don't know if it's true."_

"_You have?'_

"_Apparently it was a long time ago, but I swore it was a woman who took me into Iwa."_

"_Really now?" Toyotomi chuckled._

"_Yes, I'm serious!" she replied with a few laughs of her own. Toyotomi straightened up, Saori following in suit._

"_There's something else bothering me, the one that's been quite the thorn in my side."_

"_What is it?"_

"_You know I've been postponing your execution… and Deidara's is getting the same treatment. But I want to know… well. I knew Deidara. He wasn't that bad of a kid, but he didn't really fit in and was just too obsessed with whatever the hell he calls art."_

"_Where are you going with this?"_

"_He hesitantly sighed bfore asking, "How much do you like Deidara? As a person?"_

"_Isn't that random?"_

"_No."_

_Saori frowned. She hadn't felt any interest stirring for her fellow inmate at all, so if Toyotomi was fishing it was pointless on his part. In her head, she reflected on the months that had passed in the prison. For the limited spaces of time Deidara had been awake, she recalled him to be humorous and acting hardly like the S-Class missing-nin she had in mind. Almost normal even. Just passionate about his art. He wouldn't let anything hinder its progress, not silly things like village affiliations. To her, Deidara was a relief from the stiff tensions evident from Sakura and Sasori's presences. _He's an Akatsuki though. There must be a reason why they wanted him in their ranks. He should be executed,_ a little voice in her head reminded her._ But he seems so normal. Toyotomi's probably thinking the same thing. If he's postponed our executions for this long it means he has a lot of influence. He can influence whether Deidara, Sasori, and I die or not. And if he's asking me what I think of just Deidara and not anybody else… this might decide what happens to Deidara. Whether or not he dies. _Toyotomi could see the wheels of her head working as he patiently waited for an answer. It slightly irritated him that after all this coaxing, she still processed the truth before giving it to him. 'I think… he's a good person. I know he's a mass murderer, terrorist, and killed the Kazekage, but… I still think he's better than a lot of people in this world, even those in Konoha."_

_Toyotomi quietly drank in her thoughts. "Then I should tell you… his execution is scheduled for tomorrow at noon."_

"_What? Why?"_

"_His information is no longer needed. I don't know how much longer I can keep them from taking you, too." She opened her mouth to say something regarding his saving of Deidara, but before she could, he added, "Let's go back. You need rest." Saori obeyed, knowing that had been anything but a suggestion. He held her hands for a moment, sadness overwhelming him. "Saori."_

"_Yes?" she asked quietly._

"_Please be careful."

* * *

_

"I SEE. THAT OOTOWARI boy was afraid of losing assets, but it became that he was quite enamored with her. I understand now," Sai replied, taking in the story. Sai couldn't really know for sure how it felt, breaking someone you loved out of prison, knowing her likelihood of surviving were slim. Had he been in that situation, and if Sakura had been imprisoned, he didn't think he could let her go, but rather would fight to clear Sakura, hard enough that even the thick-skulled Tsuchikage would listen to him. "So I take it you made your escape that night?"

* * *

_SOMEHOW, TOYOTOMI AND SAORI made it back to the prison by noon, just twenty-four hours before Deidara was to be executed. Toyotomi was slow to leave, but eventually forced himself, knowing it would only get harder. By Sasori's expression, Sakura supposed he was confused. Sakura, on the other hand, knew exactly why. An hour or so after dinner arrived (who really knew what time it was), Saori shifted from her position in the corner of her cell. Without making a sound, she reached into one of the numerous pockets of her jacket. Sakura caught herself holding her breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. Sasori was awake, too. If he could ever sleep, she never actually found out._

_Saori's cuffs landed softly in her lap, the key glistening in the minimal firelight from the hallway torches. She gently placed the cuffs on the ground, working her wrists to get proper blood and chakra flow going. "Deidara," Saori hissed. He groaned in response. "Dei. da. ra." _

"_What the hell, yeah?" he muttered through grime-filled blonde hair._

"_Move closer."  
_

"_Jeez, can't you confess your attraction to me at normal hours? I respond more positively then anyways, hmm." Deidara grudgingly attempted to sit up when he was met with no response, glancing to the side…. at an empty cell. "What the -"_

" Shut up!_" snapped Saori. Deidara winced, her thought ringing in his head. She was at the door of his prison cell, attempting to unlock it as quietly as possible, suppressing her chakra signature all the while. Once unlocked, she proceeded to work on the cuffs._

"_Be careful yeah!" he grunted. "My arm is still broken…"_

" I said, shut up! Why don't you go wake the Tsuchikage while you're at it?_" His hand cuffs clinked against the concrete floor, soon joined by those of Sasori and Sakura. "_Here, keep these with you,_" she thought, hands rummaging through the pockets of the jacket for various items all ninja need._

" Do you know the way out?_" asked Sasori. She nodded in reply, leading the way to the end of the corridor. There, they found two sentries sound asleep. Sasori quickly removed them from the list of things to worry about. Sakura looked at him in disgust. He paid no mind._

_The stairs were only a short way off; they snatched the ring of keys hanging on the wall. After a few attempts, they found the key that unlocked the iron gate which blocked the only passage upstairs. The door groaned in protest to its opening. "_I thought there was better security than this,_" Sasori noted with a touch of smugness._

"Trust me, they do,_" Saori responded in her mind. "_There's no way for outsiders to tell which doors require chakra in addition to the key to open them. If you try to open a door without the chakra for doors that require it, the alarm system will activate. Conversely, if you use chakra on doors that don't require it, the alarm system will likewise activate. I don't know where the motion sensors or chakra tripwires are, both of which will activate the system too. Neither do I know where the solid iron trap gates are. Once the alarm is activated, these gates will crash down, essentially trapping us in._"_

"Chakra tripwires are so outdated, yeah,_" Deidara thought, "_You can always tell where they are -"

_A piercing noise penetrated through any reachable space possible within the prison and in its immediate vicinity. At Deidara's foot was a faint blue horizontal blow, otherwise known as none other than a chakra tripwire. All pigment that was left deserted his face. "Well, dammit Deidara, I thought they were 'so outdated,_'_" Saori snapped irritably with sarcasm._

'_Arguing about the little things and leaving the important issues unresolved will get you killed," intervened Sasori. Sakura found herself grateful she wasn't the only level headed person in the situation, even if the other was Sasori. He was some good distance ahead, attempting to find a way out without asking Saori. Not, however, that Saori wouldn't direct him anyways. Sakura noted with disdain what seemed to be iron gates about to fall._

"_Take a left, the stairs are at the end of the corridor!"_

"_Haruno, keep that trap gate open for Deidara and Saori," ordered Sasori._

"_W-what? I don't have enough chakra!" Sakura argued, though that was a clear lie. Sasori shoved a soldier pill into her mouth. She glared at his retreating back; of course she could keep the gates open with her brute strength, but if she exhausted her chakra, what would she defend herself with if Sasori decided to attack her? Or defend Saori, if the situation took a turn for the worst? Nonetheless, she complied; that was an "if" situation, but getting trapped by these gates would be a definite situation if she didn't comply. "Hurry up!" she yelled to Deidara and Saori, who had encountered some drowsy nightshift guards. "Sasori!"_

_Some ways ahead, he turned back towards Sakura, eyes slightly widening. Between Sakura and Deidara, who was with Saori, was another falling gate. "Damn it!" Sasori hissed, running back to Sakura's position. Back where Iwa's traitors were on the defense, Saori was trying to drag Deidara away, rushing to get him on the other side of the falling trap gate. Sasori lashed out chakra strings, latching them onto Deidara. Saori rushed to catch up. "Get Saori, too, you jerk!" Sakura screamed from behind him. There was slight hesitation on his part. A brief sigh of annoyance passed before Sasori attached chakra strings to the red-haired girl. The strings were extremely thin and threatened to break. Deidara slid under the gate, which had some two feet to go before completely sealing off Saori's exit._

"_Saori!" Deidara yelled, wishing he head his exploding clay on him. One and a half feet left._

"_Katon: Ryuuka Jutsu!" She breathed fire out, pushing her chakra to maximum efficiency._ One and a half feet. I can make it, _she thought. With Sasori's assistance, she got onto her stomach. She got her head through, but she could feel the weight lightly on her back. _What if I don't make it?

* * *

"Of course, she made it through. The gate stopped. All the gates stopped falling. There was an electrical override. Sasori helped her out and she led us through the prison with less trouble than we had expected. They couldn't get eh system working again, so they forced a manual override. Sasori… really helped out. He even saved me. Probably because I could heal Deidara, but to save the person who helped kill you… is really something."

"He seems a very sensible person to me, had I not known him as an S-Rank criminal," Sai replied.

"Trust me, I wouldn't like him if he wasn't."

* * *

Thank God, thank God, thank somebody! _Saori repeatedly thought this as the four prison escapees raced towards the only exit, three more floors above them. The guards could not slip through the one foot gap between the floor and the iron gate, allowing the four to gain precious seconds. "I don't like this," said Sasori. Saori veered left._

"_Well I definitely love escaping over losing my head," Sakura sarcastically responded. She sneered at him when he glared back at her._

"_It's too quiet."_

"_It's the dead of the night."_

"_No; he's right. They're probably clogging the front entrance or something," Saori interjected._

"_Nope!" Deidara said. "They'll be at the perimeter of Iwa and around the prison outside."_

"_Hoe do you know?" responded Saori irritably._

"_Those trap gates aren't only electric, hmm."_

"_Yeah, I know. They have to be lowered by a hand crank manually if it's been cut from its electric power source."_

"_Or, since we're dealing with smarter jounin and special forces and not genin like you, they'll just cut the chains that hold those solid iron gates up. That heavy of a door - it'd be down so fast, yeah!"_

"_Guard unit to the left!" roared Sakura._

"_You guys go; I'll take them!" said Saori. She wasn't too found of this particular guard unit. Since she was already labeled a traitor, it wouldn't hurt to… Saori smirked. Out of the corner of his eye, Deidara caught it, and couldn't help but get the contagion. "Well, well, well, hello there. I didn't like you three so much."_

_The leader of the unit rolled his eyes. "We don't have time to deal with small fry like you. Get out."_

"_Oh, I'm trying, trust me. Kaotn: Sparrow Shuriken!"_

"_Gotta move faster than that!" Flaming sparrows hardly left Saori's fingertips when the leader got behind her. Saori spun to block his attack, momentarily ignoring his cohorts. _

"_Saori, hmm!" yelled Deidara, some meters a bit off back in the main corridor._

"_You!" exclaimed the leader of the guard unit. Saori at first thought he had spoken to Deidara, but that was clearly no the case when he did not turn to address Deidara, but rather pulled Saori to him, a kunai at her throat. She hated the vulnerability of her tender neck flesh. The leader of the unit spun Saori around, her back to his chest. Two bodies fell to the floor, her eyes widened, immediately recognizing the shoes of the feet which were situated next to the two felled bodies. "You're a traitor now, too? Both of you - go, or I'll kill her!"_

_Toyotomi was unfazed. "Let her go." Saori's heart skipped for more than just a few beats. His beloved voice was so smooth, so calm. In the back of her mind, she was kicking herself for even getting caught this quickly. A few months ago, she would have never succumbed so easily. So what made this instance so different? Her life was at stake, yet she performed better when she had to show the rest of the world a strong façade for Toyotomi, when she had to protect not only her pride, but Toyotomi's. A few months ago was a time when Toyotomi had been proud of her, glad that she was a member of his team. A month ago, she had liked herself better. Everything had turned sour in a matter of days, and as the months dragged on, she retrogressed to the insecurity she knew when she was much, much younger. Wasn't her pride as a good shinobi worth protecting?_

_The guard unit leader oozed of confidence. Toyotomi had visited the prison too frequently; he guessed that Toyotomi would never risk the safety of Saori. He didn't think Deidara would have the cares to bother saving Saori either. After all, Deidara had once born an unmarred Iwa symbol on his hitai-ate and knew how to get out of the prison pretty well from here. But he was wrong._

_Saori's eyes further widened, feeling warm blood soaking into her shirt. It felt absolutely repulsive. The leader's body crumpled to the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming. Behind her, Saori could hear the heavy, raspy breaths of Deidara, a kunai firmly between in his teeth and dripping in blood. Deidara's blue eyes stared intently with plenty of malice at Toyotomi, who seemed slightly disturbed by the sudden amassing blood on the floor. "Toyotomi…," Saori whispered. He favored staring at the unconscious guards he had knocked out. "We really couldn't do this without your help. So… thanks."_

"_Saori, just go. Take care of Deidara. He's a good person. Those arms aren't going to get him anywhere."  
_

"_I don't want your pity, hmm, Ootowari!"  
_

"_It's not pity, you fricken idiot." Saori sighed, making the motions to leave, though her heart did not want to go. She glanced at Deidara's angry expression momentarily before running back to Toyotomi, holding him in a tight embrace._

"_Toyotomi, I'm going to miss you," she muttered into the folds of his shirt. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her. His gold armband, usually placed at his upper right arm, clinked as he removed it, forcing Saori off of him in the process. She was going to more than miss him; this could very well be the last time she might ever lay her eyes on him, ever hear him speak. Shinobi's lives were so uncertain. That of missing-nin were even more so uncertain. Five months out from then, she might be six feet under, but who would know? Would Toyotomi find out? What would she leave behind, to mark the earth so that generations later, children would know her? What she endured? If she did die so soon, so unexpectedly, would she be missed? The thought of her being forgotten, the thought of never seeing Toyotomi again, left her scared and hurt._

"_You won't have to," Toyotomi replied after a few moments of thoughtful silence. He reached for her right arm, placing the armband around her upper arm. "You will come back one day. I promise, you will come back and return that to me."_

"_Saori, let's go, hmmm," called Deidara, thoroughly annoyed. She slowly backed away, fighting back the tears already spilling onto her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away. She was running for her life right now - there were no room for tears. They said emotions were to be kept in check at all times, but for some reason, keeping them in check when running for your life just seemed more important than when on routine border patrol. She turned around a final time, knowing if she looked back again, she would never leave. She felt safe in Iwa, quite ironically. She felt a longing for home here. Together with Deidara, they caught up with Sakura and Sasori, who were encircled by unconscious guards, his left hand on her right wrist. He was a bit wide-eyed, taking deep breaths. Sakura's eyes were by far the largest, her left hand hovering above her stomach, where her clothing had torn, most likely from a kunai blade. "Hey, hey, this isn't such a good time to be making moves, Sasori-danna, hmm. No need to keep Sakura so close."_

_Neither responded to his jest, both apparently very disturbed by something. "The exit is right ahead, on the right. Let's not waste any more time," Saori half-suggested, already running towards the exiting corridor. The other three followed, and not a moment too soon._

"_Crap, yeah!" yelled Deidara, as an iron gate nearly fell on top of him. "Get moving, they're cutting the chains, yeah!" His directive was unnecessary; Saori was sprinting as fast as she could - pretty fast, Deidara noted on the side, as she was short and also young - while Deidara was right behind her, doing his best to muffle the screams of his broken arms. Sasori pulled Sakura after him, seemingly still mortified by whatever she had endured. _

"_You're going to have move faster," snapped Sasori, who had caught up with Saori. Behind them, Deidara jumped, his Akatsuki nearly being clobbered and trapped by a falling gate. Saori grabbed his collar and pulled him, despite knowing his arms were likely very, very inflamed. She ignored the wants to scream, her hair being torn out by narrow escapes. There was always a good reason to have short hair, and now she fully understood why. Deidara appeared to have been recently enlightened as well, wincing as a few of his blonde locks were yanked out. The only sound that served as any sort of relief was that of the iron gates falling behind them; they fell with such quickness that it amazed Saori that with all the chakra the four were pumping into their legs, they were making it out alive. _

_Sakura swore she had never seen anything as beautiful as the night sky, which she had missed for so many days. Behind them was a one hundred kilogram iron door. Luckily, they would not have to be concerned about lifting _that _up. That was the bottom of things Sakura was thinking about. There only existed one thought at the front of her mind at the moment: they had escaped alive.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Please review! Thanks :3


	8. Letters

**Author's Note:** only a week late this time! I'm starting to think every other week is a good schedule for these chapters. I want to keep to writing by hand first then typing and plus I don't see to have much time to type in the week DX Enjoy! And don't forget about the 100 Flash project on my dA, ! (add .com after that)

* * *

**Chapter Seven** Letters

"_We're not free yet," Sasori reminded in her ear in a whisper. She gave him a puzzled look. Perhaps imprisonment had its effects on poor old Sasori or perhaps he was simply going insane._

"_I'm telling you, it's a left, yeah!" Deidara's yell brought Sasori and Sakura back to the situation at hand._

"_Look, I was just there the other day, I'd like to think I know which way we're going ," retorted Saori._

"_Are you crazy? That's the way to the Ootowari Estate!"  
_

"_Exactly! We can go through the Estate then run south towards Bird Country. I know for a fact that the landscape never changes there. It's our best chance of actually getting out alive!"_

"_No way, unless you want to watch me blow the place up, hmm!"_

"_You don't have your clay, might I remind you."  
_

_Deidara smirked, "You don't think I hide a few bags here and there? If we go towards Konoha now, I can get it."_

"_So that's what this is about, you just want your clay!"_

"_No, it's about what makes sense, hmm!"_

"_And bickering in front of the prison is sensible," Sasori sarcastically added, bolting past the two. He leapt onto a rooftop, looking for the Ootowari Estate. He was now out of the prison's dark labyrinth of corridors and trickeries. He didn't need Saori anymore and he was sure Deidara would make it back to home base without Sakura's aid, but they were good hostages. One was wanted by Iwa for her head, the other wanted by Iwa to initiate a war. It simply worked out so perfectly for an Akasuna no Sasori._

"_Guard unit, two o'clock!" yelled Sakura, her fist crackling with chakra._

"_Don't bother with them. They came to not to stop you, because they will not succeed, but to hinder our progress. We can outrun them with ease." Sakura paused, then used her chakra for her legs instead. Slowly but surely, they were losing the less-trained guards. Looking back, Sakura wondered when the real terrors of Iwa were going to come after them. She faced forward again, but not soon enough. Sasori had stopped, with plenty of good reason of course; the land suddenly disappeared, featuring several kilometers worth of falling. Which Sakura was experiencing at the moment._

"_Sakura!" Saori yelled. It was only the beginning of spring; the glaciers from the winter snowfall had yet to melt from the mountain tops. If Sakura hit the river below, there wouldn't be enough water to protect her fall…!_

"_What the -!" Saori had bigger concerns to worry about, now, such as holding onto Deidara. "Some warning would be nice, yeah, Sasori-danna!" Saori dug the heels of her shoes into the dirt the best she could, using her chakra to keep a death grip around Deidara's torso. Neither of the two had seen it, but somehow Sasori had shed his Akatsuki cloak, tied it so it created something close to a lasso, and threw it around Deidara before jumping off the cliff edge in record speed._ The Akatsuki chose some fine material for clothing,_ Saori noted, referring to the fact that the cloak had not torn under the immense strain._

_Below, only a few meters above the water, Sasori held the other end with his left hand, his legs stuck on the canyon sides with the aide of chakra and his right arm in a firm grip around Sakura. She clutched to him, quite literally for her life, and stared down at the slow-moving river below that, had it not been for Sasori, would be mixed with her blood. "Are you going to get off of me any time soon?" he suddenly asked. She momentarily glanced at him, then began trying to reach for the canyon's wall. Above them, Saori's grip was slipping._

"_Uh guys? Unwanted attention at six o'clock!" Saori yelled. Pulling Deidara with her, she ran to the edge and… jumped._

"_What the hell, yeah?" screamed Deidara. Sakura looked up, only to be crushed against Sasori's body._

"_What are you –" A messy blur of black, red, yellow, and gold shot past Sasori and Sakura. Sasori's coiled cloak joined the moving blur, which had caught fire (or seemed to). Sakura noted Sasori's left hand, which was situated on the rock face with chakra. "Was that… Deidara and Saori?"_

"_Unfortunately," Sasori bluntly replied before almost shoving Sakura to the rock face. Once she got a proper hold onto the rock face, his arm left her waist and he began his quick descent. Sakura did likewise but at a much slower pace._

_Now below them, Saori and Deidara were half-coughing in the river. Saori used her chakra to keep the both of them afloat. Deidara was practically sinking. "Ow, un! Let go of my arm, you're bending it and it's broken! And next time, warn me if you're just going to jump and don't set me on fire, yeah!"_

_Saori glared at him though he wasn't looking, being rather exhausted. "I did not set you on fire. I even carried you on my back so you wouldn't catch fire. I guess you just love slit throats and cracked heads that much?"_

"_Oh, shut up, yeah!"  
_

"_Fine, give drowning a try!" she snapped, letting go of Deidara. He wouldn't get the chance to do so however; Sasori lunged to keep Deidara afloat, shooting a menacing look at Saori to which she felt incapable of returning._

"_Let's get moving. They're coming down," ordered Sasori as Sakura's feet met the surface of the water. "We'll lose them, then go find a change of clothes. Sakura, I need you to create an avalanche. Hinder their pursuit." She, surprisingly, listened to him, a chakra-laden fist meeting the canyon side with a sickening crack, causing an avalanche of rocks to fall. Sasori made some hand signals; the water soon rose like a huge wave before collapsing. By the time all the water had fallen, the four fugitives were nowhere in sight.

* * *

_

"TIRED?" TEASED SHIROTSUKI, WHO eyed the room's latest occupant. Saori collapsed on the beige couch, located in the room which she learned to be the Alpha squad's lounge. There was an awkward moment of silence before she yelled nothing in particular. "Incoherent languages are we, now?"

"Tired," Saori repeated him, rolling onto her side. "This is the worse training I've ever been through."

"Were you so naïve as to think it would be easy?"

"No; I wish I didn't have to bother with it at all! Ooh, mind-control, that's nice but not worth the expense. My eyes feel like they're about to fall out and I hate it when my throat is under threat. It gets all tingly and I hate that."

"But that's not really why you don't want to train," he fluidly responded, not missing a beat. Reading people was his sort of thing, a natural skill he had and sometimes did him better than it would if he had a Mind's Eye.

"Why's that?" Shirotsuki's face read as a "don't feel me" sort. "Yeah, okay, I'm uncomfortable around the Genyou Senshi, but does that matter? She's scary!"

"You're just being a coward."

"Coward?" Saori raised her head from the pillow.

"Did you think you _weren't_ one?"

"She put her head back down. "No; I know that I am. I just didn't have a word for it." Quietly, she contemplated all the things he disliked about herself. Stubborn, proud, still slightly arrogant, naïve – all of it never changed. She had thought of her half-year escapade with the three most important people to her in the world as a rite-of-passage, a time where she finally grew into a young adult. But inside, the better of her knew she was still a child, afraid to grow up and move on.

"Penny?" Shirotsuki asked nonchalantly.

She sighed. "I'm no different from 'Ootowari' Sora."

"What makes you think that?"

"Everything," she replied, reaching for the door knob.

As she was leaving, Shirotsuki responded, "You can't change if you don't let go." The door closed softly.

* * *

DAYS PASSED BY WITHOUT much change in scenery. There was a definite air of anxiety in the air. Active members of the Espionage division reported that Akatsuki were making a move soon. Two Akatsuki spies had been caught far too close to home; both committed suicide before any information could be gleaned from them. Saori's return had leaked out, as had news of the Genyou Senshi's sudden disappearance form high-paying crime circles. Only a few could not put two and two together. The Genyou Senshi was overexerting herself- much to everyone's surprise, for she did few things other than for herself or for Jigoku – to speed up Saori's training. There was nothing to show for it.

"Goddamn it, Saori, get your act together," snapped the Genyou Senshi. "Tomorrow will mark a month since we started. Can't you get something going, anything at all?"

"I clearly _can't_," Saori retorted.

"Don't give me your attitude. What Jigoku sees in you, I'll never know. All I smell from you is fear. Do you _really_ think you can kill me, you fool? You are so below me; you couldn't even dream of it."

"If you want it so badly, fine, I _will_ kill you when this shit is over!" Nothing but empty words. In the back of her mind, she recalled a time she had said the same thing to Deidara and nearly carried it out.

"As if," the Genyou Senshi stalked out of the room, thoroughly annoyed. Saori was equally pissed, both at her trainer and at herself. _I really haven't changed._ Staring at the bleak-looking walls, she recalled the last few times she had ever felt this low and useless. The last time, when Deidara had broken her heart by telling her their friendship was only something she had hallucinated, survival had occupied her mind which made everything so much easier, so much easier to momentarily forget. The time before that, she has sulked awhile before Toyotomi had saved her from her loneliness, the hatred at herself. Writing in a journal had helped then, too. _If I'm never going to change, never get better, why bother trying?_ Not five minutes had passed before brush hit paper. Midway through writing out the raging emotions in her heart and the mess of thoughts in her mind, she felt thoroughly childish, even more so than before. _I'm fifteen and I still have a diary…_ The thought lingered in her mind a moment before she scribbled out "journal" at the top and wrote "to." However, the space next to it was blank.

Who would she pretend she was writing to? A year ago, there would have been no question about it; she would have written "Do Deidara," in a single, fluid motion. But a year had drastically changed the status quo. Deidara and she had more than a few "little" fights; they had gone for the throat. Deidara had nearly cut straight through her aorta, the resulting scar to forever remind her. She had tried to burn him alive without a shred of guilt.

But in the end, at Death's doorstep, she had, in her heart, forgiven him. Understood his rationale. She had damaged his pride and flaunted the fact. She had idolized him for the longest time when they were together but when Toyotomi was brought back from the depths of her memories she had stopped being the little girl that loved everything that Deidara did. It was a personal insult to him, and she hadn't wanted to acknowledge that. She did not know then that later, she would question whether losing her best friend was worth keeping a long-lasting love. The question for her now was, had he understood she had forgiven him? She hadn't been able to say everything before she crashed into the dark depths of the river, where Deidara and she had their last fight. There were many things; for one, that he was the best person she had ever known. He wasn't the kindest but she didn't know anyone better. He wasn't mushy and didn't say the "I believe in you" or "you can do it" crap. He just said "oh well" and made her want to show him up, prove to him she was good. He acted so aloof it made her want to strive to be recognized by him. An apology was one of the other things she had wanted to say.

And where was he now? There was multiple confirmations that the Akatsuki knew Saori was not dead. Had Madara kept that information from Deidara? She was sure that he would have been after her head the moment he found out she was alive and kicking. He was a temperamental pyromaniac; patience did not exist in his world. Her unoccupied left hand instinctively brushed the right side of her throat, where death by Deidara's doing had ghosted almost half a year ago. That had been the first serious fight they had, but it had not been their last.

The brush hung hesitantly over the paper, ink dripping. Hadn't she forgiven Deidara? Wasn't that what she had decided over a month ago when she decided Deidara's life was worth more than hers? Why was there so much hesitation? Why was she so violently against addressing a latter to him, a letter he was likely never to receive? Frustrated, she scribbled out "to." She would worry about that at the end. Her brush was flying over the page again, slightly messy characters following in suit. Her thoughts emptied out, and there was nothing but one thing left to say.

I'm currently in training to cross the evolution gap of the Mind's Eye. The Genyou Senshi, who trains me, is losing her patience, as am I. I thought I had changed, thought I was better than I was before, I thought 'Ootowari' Sora had died after I left the prison and fled from Iwa with Sakura, Sasori-sama, and Deidara. I only fooled myself into thinking I could change.

Over a month ago, I fought Deidara for the last time at the river. I think he was planning on saving me, until I let go of his hand. I thought I was doing that in order to save Deidara the trouble of keeping me alive. He would have to explain to his superiors why he let me live when there was a kill on sight order on me, then deal with the consequences, which could be fatal, as his superiors are leaders of the Akatsuki. But it's no different than before – I let go of his hand, rejected his help, for myself. Letting go was the same as running away. It was the quickest, easiest way to say goodbye.

I might try to trace the cause of this rift to the night Toyotomi and I fought, but its' not true. What bothered Deidara was not that I loved Toyotomi and not him, but something much more complex. I hurt him worse than any physical wound, something I would have never recovered from, unlike him. He is a good person at heart, but so misunderstood and disrespected. He wanted to be recognized for his artistic brilliance, his greatness, and I did, for a time. When I stopped, when I began to show him Toyotomi held more importance more than just once or twice…

And all for what? Toyotomi isn't even alive anymore. I can never return to Iwa, to home, and have the assassination tacked onto my growing list of crimes, some of which are false. I had feverishly hoped he had gotten the vital medical attention he needed that night, but it's been so long without word… I assume the worse. I'm sorry for what I did. I got ahead of myself. No apology will ever suffice for the life I took from you, but if you are in Heaven, you know just how sorry and regretful I am. I miss you.

Her brush hung tentatively above the paper again, characters aching to be painted on the smooth page. It didn't have to be perfect; after all, only she was likely to view these letters. Her heart and her fingers yearned to write the katakana for Deidara's name, but some ugly part of her thought that revolting for some odd reason.

Lifting her head, her tired gold eyes met the bright blue of the cloudless sky. It was simple, quaint. Pretty, if she wanted it. Like Sora, like the sky.

Two small stones weighted down the paper which wished to curl from years wrapped round a thick wooden dowel. The ink began to dry, having been exposed to the cool air for some time now. At very left of the page read: So, I guess this is for you, Ootowari Toyotomi.

* * *

"THAT'S THE THIRD ONE," one of three shinobi noted grimly. He did his best to rid the blood that had soaked into his clothes. In front of them was what looked like a blood explosion. In a way, it was a blood explosion; their captive had consumed a bomb seal and promptly blew up in a less than graceful and clean manner.

"It's too close, too close," replied another. "That girl's too much trouble. We should have never taken her in."

"It is not just because of her that they come, don't be foolish. Jigoku-sama has much faith in her," added the third, a female. "We should, too. He does not wait forever for nothing."

"She hasn't gone on a mission yet, neither has she addressed her division. Only a handful of us have ever seen our new captain. Kani's still running things."

"She's training."

"She should balance her duties! We all could use intense training, but are we? No, we are patrolling, something our division never has been responsible for doing."

"The Genyou Senshi and Jigoku are pushing her to this. You only have First State Mind's Eye; you couldn't comprehend the difficulty of crossing the gap."

"Shut up, you! You only defend her because she's a female."

"Don't be sexist! We killed that part of the clan a long nine years ago, don't go reverting all that Jigoku-sama has done for us. If it was a fifty year old sexist man I would still defend him because we need that eye. No one has Fourth State and the only Third State is decaying day by day!"

"Give me a break –"

"Enough!" interrupted the first again, the blue of his Mind's Eye glowing brightly in the obscure darkness. "_Let's clean this up, and move away. We're probably being watched._" The other two obediently ceased their argument, making sure not to leave a trace of blood or conflict behind. They already has said too much, shown their affiliation, a costly error on their part. A moment later they vanished into smoke. As they did, a bundle rose from the ground. IT cracked open, soft, green hair reflecting the moon's light. There was a slightly maniacal grin perched on the face of none other than Zetsu.

* * *

"I NEED YOU TO do some actual leadering," said the Genyou Senshi. Shirotsuki cracked an eye open. She was leaning on the windowsill, arms crossed, and likely a displeased expression on her face. Shirotsuki closed his eye again, shifting a bit to find the most comfortable spot.

"Don't I already do a ton of that? We haven't gotten any missions as the Alpha Squad yet; I have no need to do any unnecessary leadering lest my minions get tired of me and my brilliance. My team is fine," protested Shirotsuki, still keeping a false arrogant façade though there was no need for it, as the Genyou Senshi knew him better than he did.

"Have you seen what Saori has been doing?" she hissed, not at all amused by his exaggerations.

"Training with you?"

"Outside of that! She's been writing letter to _dead people_."

"It was to only one dead person, and aren't you not supposed to read the letters?" The Genyou Senshi snorted impatiently.

"And I suppose you didn't? That's how you didn't find out that it was addressed to a dead person instead of multiple?"

"Hey, I was leadering. You don't have that excuse, you're no leader."

"I'm training her. I have more of an excuse than you do."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, am I going to have to feign sleep before you leave or what?"

"Talk to her. Give her the 'I believe in you' crap."

"Why should I? Jigoku or you should, it'd be much more believable." Shirotsuki almost let out a barrage of laughter.

"Jigoku is not to be bothered with such petty things."

"What about you?" he asked, though it was rather rhetorical. The Genyou Senshi gave off the air of annoyance and promptly left Shirotsuki's room, leaving Shirotsuki even more annoyed than his elder sibling. Part of it was because he knew he was going to do as the Genyou Senshi had instructed anyways. These were one of those moments when he wished he wasn't as "great" as he liked to pretend he was.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING, SAORI exited from her quarters off of the Alpha Squad's meeting room without any relief. Bags were growing under her eyes but no one, including her, thought it significant or was surprised. Takashi usually looked worse than she did anyways. Speaking of which, he was downing a far more than healthy amount of coffee, despite knowing its relative scarcity in the Asiatic countries they lived in. Commissions had stacked up and he was basically assassinating people nonstop. Saori had yet to go on a mission, let alone meet her division. She wasn't looking forward to it, and childishly hoped that if she avoided the conference long enough, Jigoku would reinstate the previous captain of the Espionage division.

"When are you leaving?" Saori asked Takashi gently, knowing she still had yet to be in his good spirits and win his trust.

"Eight. The assassination is to occur at noon," he replied tersely. Somebody knocked on the door to the lounge rather impatiently. Takashi whipped the door open, his fourth large mug of coffee nearly splashing out of its container. "What is it?"

"Sir, it's Iwagakure's, er, Iwagakure." Saori's eyebrow arched but she didn't turn, neither did she know that the boy at the door had caught sight of Saori's vibrant red hair. Had she not been up until one that morning training, she would have snapped on the Mind's Eye without another thought. "They're getting impatient."

"Don't they know what clan I'm affiliated with?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Get out. Tell them they could buy me all of the former Fire Country and I wouldn't take their job offer." He slammed the door shut, then searched the kitchenette for the elusive bottle of soldier pills he was in such a need of.

"Why won't you take the job? It sounds like they're desperate for you to take it and probably will pay well, knowing who runs Iwagakure," said Saori, who tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. It used to be much easier to be deceptive. It still was, but about certain things it was simply impossible. She mentally noted that she needed to practice her deception methods once again so it would become impeccable as it used to be.

"I don't like the Ootowari Family. Iwa money is dirty, unearned money," he responded with fluid ease. He outright insulted her village and the family of the boy she had loved. She found his explanation suspicious, but took the insult factor as justification. Little did she know, he only rejected it because he was more sympathetic than she thought he could be.

"Aren't we all up bright and early?" sarcastically added Shirotsuki. He displayed his impressive wingspan as he stretched his tired limbs, rousing them from sleep. "Said your prayers yet, Takashi?"

"I need none."

"So the dead ones always say."

"Haha."

"Can't you at least make that laugh convincing?"

He shot a dark look before slamming the door, "That would defeat the purpose." Shirotsuki sighed. His team, supposedly the best two field ninjas under his command, just seemed like emotional teenagers to him.

"And what are you doing?"

Saori loked up form the desk. "Hmm?"

"What are you doing?"

"Writing."

"I see that," he said before snatching the paper from beneath her small, dark hands. HE had expected an immediate cry of outrage and a demand to return it, but Saori didn't. Shirotsuki almost didn't have enough time to drop the paper, which suddenly started burning, into the sink. "Hey, hey! Watch where you shoot your fire, m'kay?"

"It wasn't meant for you to read," she curtly replied monotonously.

"Why couldn't you be normal and whined for the paper back instead?"

"Because that kind of thing would be something a younger, more idiotic and foolish Saori would do."

"You're only what, thirteen?"

"Fifteen."

He kept his surprise in check. "Alright, fifteen. You still have a way to go before becoming a boring old geezer so live your life out now. Shinobi's lives are short. You never know when you'll kick the bucket. Could you die peacefully right now, knowing you didn't let yourself live?"

"I did and I was burned."

"Was that a pun?"

"No."

"Okay. Then let me take you to meet someone." Saori reluctantly agreed, knowing she would not be able to write letters to Toyotomi in private or sleep with Shirotsuki right over her shoulder. They walked down three flights of stairs into the mess hall, where a large crowd had gathered around a girl of medium build and dark blue hair usually reserved for males in genetics and a much bigger and older male with thick muscles. The girl was winning in the arm wrestling match, though her face was deep red and glistened with sweat. Her gold eyes flashed up at Shirotsuki, whose presence was impossible to ignore unless he wished it to be. Saori met her gaze as it briefly brushed over the redhead before focusing on the arm wrestling match at hand. She smashed down her opponent's hand in a last ditch effort, earning her a victory. Coins passed hands as those who had bet against her were left to wonder how she had won.

Wiping her feverish, sweaty hands on her pants, which, Saori noted was the same uniform as she had seen other girls training wear. The outfit composed of a sleeveless kosode with gaping arm holes, tucked into the standard jounin pants and tied together with a white obi. Men usually wore the less0form fitting version during training, understandably. The girl approached Shirotsuki with an evident and justified swagger. "Shirotsuki-taichou," she greeted. "Saori-san."

"Saori, this is Ookamika Kani. She is your second-in-command of the Espionage division," Shirotsuki introduced. Kani held out her hand, which Saori tentatively took.

"Next time, some warning would be nice," muttered Saori.

"But then that'd be no fun," teased Shirotsuki. "Kani's not an overly feminine girl, so no worries there. Just be careful, she's got a mean punch."

"Got that right," Kani added with pride.

"I'll leave you two to it, then!" Before Saori or Kani could capture the elusive captain of the Battle Tactics division, he vanished into a puff of smoke. "One day, we ought to fix his terrible habit of forcing situations to occur and then fleeing. Well! Let's go introduce you to your division. No one knows who you are -"

"NO!" Saori snapped quickly. "I'm, er, not ready. I'm not a leader. I'm a follower. If I see who I have to lead, I'm going to barf."

"Phobia of attention?" asked Kani.

"Uh… yeah."

"Not really. I heard you were a good liar, but I'm having a hard time believe that's true."

"I don't lie for fun -"

"Sure you don't!" called Shirotsuki from somewhere from the kitchen. "Everyone does, Saori!"

"I like to think that I don't," she added under her breath and hopefully unheard by Shirotsuki.

"Eh, who cares what he says anyways," Kani continued, noting her captain's reaction. "Let's go down to the shore. I'll be you haven't had any fresh air in a good while. She led the way up to the main entrance, teaching Saori how to get in and out of the hideout, which they called Kokoro, and about the location of its entrances and exits. things that Takashi, Shirotsuki, Jigoku, and the Genyou Senshi had neglected to do. "Only some can control trees with our minds. Those of us who do, like me, aren't very effective on human minds, though. But, that makes us great for sensing oncoming danger and beats having to get sick any time I want to get in here or out." Apparently, the exits and entrances were usually disguised as trees, and Kani's gift made it easier for her to get in and out. It was the first time that Saori had heard of two slightly different Mind's Eyes. Saori spent much time practicing entrance and exit techniques so she would not get dizzy each time she did so. When Kani deemed Saori's practice satisfactory, they headed down to the shore.

"_I'm a fuuton chakra type,_" Kani thought to Saori suddenly. She put on a pair of dark sunglasses on, handing Saori a pair while she was at it, so that their Mind's Eye Second States could be hidden from the naked eye. "_I'm taking you to see a ship. Have you heard of the Tamakachi Clan?_"

"_Kumogakure tried to destroy the clan but they fled when they found out, didn't they?_" Saori responded.

"_Yes, a little over nine years ago._" Calling on her chakra to hide from Kani, Saori added in her mind, _around the same day our clan was slaughtered_. "Sure is nice out. temperature's kicking up, just the right beach weather! _But we're not going there. We're going to the cliff over there. The sea looks shallow, but just jump. I'll use my fuuton chakra to blow us into the cliff. I know what I'm doing, so don't panic._" Despite what Kani said ,the moment Saori reached the end of the cliff, her throat closed up and it felt like she could not breathe. The last time she had seen something oh so much like this, so close to a cliff just like this, only miracles kept her alive. The last time, Deidara and she had been fighting and she had fallen. She had felt the crushing pressure of the water, pulling her under, the sudden overflow of water that overwhelmed her, how she felt like she really would die if she didn't get air soon. She remembered so clearly how weak she was when she finally did reach the surface and was gasping for air, chakra so depleted she could only hope she would not sink. She remembered staring up at light gray skies, the rain starting to go away. She remember how there was nothing but the sky. Deidara hadn't been there when she came back up.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," said Kani.

"Last time… I jumped…"

"Your fear is insulting me~"

"What?"

"Your fear is insulting me, I said. Your insecurity appears to be a lack of trust in me an da lack of confidence in my talent and skills."

"It's not that, it's -"

"Yes, you fear you will suffocate under water, but why? Don't you believe my **awesome** jutsu will keep you from drowning? Are you going to let that body of water best you? Did you know your body is made of sixty percent water -"

"Actually, it's seventy percent, but -"

"It doesn't matter if it's sixty or seventy or a hundred and two. The point is that most of you is water and the rest is apparently nothing but air! Are you going to let Death heckle you until it decides it's time for you to keel over?"

"Okay, okay! Let's just get this over with!" Saori snapped. Kani knew she only said that so Kani would stop preaching but Kani was nonetheless satisfied… for now. The wild girl leapt out toward the ocean without so much as a thought and Saori followed her lead, squeezing her eyes shut so tightly she might never open them again. Saori felt a huge gust of wind; her left foot briefly grazed the hardened ground, her shinobi instincts kicking in to provide a painless landing. Somehow, she forced her eyes open, her gold eyes staring out to the open sea from a hidden cavern just a few meters from the surface of the cliff. For a moment, she wondered how somebody could pass by this large of a cavern and not inspect it, but, after noting Kani's relaxed guard, she figured it was under an extremely high level genjutsu. "Who keeps it up, the genjutsu?" Saori asked.

"Jigoku-sama. Who else could?" Kani replied as if it was very obvious, which, it was.

"Jigoku? How can he keep it up and do all the things that he does…?"

"That's what's killing him, silly."

"But why? Why does he do such stupid things?"

"Because he is our leader and he has been for over eighty years. He lead us through the toughest times, from leaving our homeland to come to a strange new place where clans were fighting each other constantly, through all three Great Ninja Wars, even making the decision that the Tsukiyomi had to be killed even though the Tsukiyomi were a large part of our clan. He would not leave us during the Fourth Great Ninja War. He has raised each and every one of us. We are his pride."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sigh, there is randomly large spaces between lines... I don't know why, but I tried to fix them manually. Please read and **review**!


	9. Truths

**Chapter Eight** Truths

It was only then did the gravity of war bring its burden down on Saori. People died in wars, hundreds upon millions of innocents and vile ones alike. Homes destroyed, families torn - that was the ugly truth of warfare. The war had existed for over a year now, almost two, but it almost seemed not to exist at the same time. Wars were noisy and you always lived in fear of caustic bombs and explosions - Death hovered over you and struck you at whim. That was how war should be, but this time it wasn't the case. There was no desperate fear, and people like Saori could pretend life was normal. While she fretted here, lives were being lost, only they were quiet mass killings that never made it through the censored news media.

"Quit daydreaming," said Kani, which Saori would later find quite ironic. "And come over here."

Saori tore her gaze from the open expanse of the sea to behind her, sighting only a bit of Kani's dark blue hair and the massive hulk of a ship. "What the hell is that doing out of water?"

"This baby doesn't belong in water. There's a reason why I asked you about the Tamakachi Clan. After we burned down the village and most of the Tsukiyomi, we heard other clans had suddenly perished or almost did. We first tired to get in touch with the Uchiha Clan, which we suspected was likeliest to be under fire, but we found Uchiha Itachi had already slaughtered them. We dropped our suspicions until we came across the Tamakachi Clan, who was in flight, much like us. They told us of a clan in Iwagakure that nearly perished around the same time. Upon finding us, they concluded it was not just coincidences, that it was a conspiracy made by the shinobi governments.

"From there, the Tamakachi and we formed an alliance. We could not merge clans, because the Tamakachi felt that land was unsafe and we wouldn't be able to assimilate into their lifestyles. Instead, we agreed to send a three-man cell as ambassadors to one another. The Tamakachi left us one of these, ships meant to glide on cloud moisture," Kani explained, gesturing to the massive vessel. Despite its size, it was unlikely all that remained of the Ookamika Clan could fit inside. "We left them a Reverse-Kuchiyose Seal so when they find themselves in a crunch, they'll immediately be transferred to our underground storage facility."

"It doesn't make sense. We both were clans traumatized by betrayal. Why would we be so trusting?"

"Who's to say? Their elder seemed to like Jigoku and Jigoku was confident they would be loyal. I wouldn't doubt Jigoku's judgment. Look here, he clearly thinks high of you even now. If it weren't for him, you'd be stranded out there on your own with God knows what hunting you down. Anyways, only the Tamakachi can really fly this vessel. They taught us how to fly it but with the Tamakachi we wouldn't last."

"Got that right, Kani. You suckers would be lost without us," jeered a tanned young man with light bluish hair. Kani playfully punched him in the shoulder. If it was painful, he made no sign of it, which Saori guessed was from multiple instances of practice.

"As if! This idiot's the ambassador of the Tamakachi Clan. He spends every day with the ship like it's his kid."

"It is, Kani. Ships are like children. If you don't watch them they won't grow up right and rot away," he defended teasingly. "The name is Tamakachi Hatori. Who're you?"

"I'm no longer the top dog, Hatori," Kani hinted.

"You've been displaced?"

"Yup! And you're looking at the laggard right here!" Kani patted Saori's back none too lightly.

"A half-breed displacing Kani? Hmm, you must have some impressive powers, then, girl," said Hatori.

"I'm… working on it," Saori replied.

"Heh. I don't take it that you want to take this ship for a ride?"

"No! No, I'm good… on… land."

'You know, it's rude not to introduce yourself, landlubber."

"Ahm, Ookamika Saori."

"Hmm, good name, I suppose. Well, if you ladies don't mind…"

"Don't call me lady!" snapped Kani. Hatori disappeared before she could punch him or anything else that would inflict bodily harm in one form or another. One might laugh, but Saori wasn't. She couldn't understand their laidback nature. What if Akatsuki came? Right now? They'd be so unprepared, with al their unjustified laughter. Out there, a dog was howling for food but no one was listening. Somewhere out there, a child was without a nurturing guardian. Somewhere out there, there was nothing to be laughing about. "C'mon!" hollered Kani, her voice vibrating intensely off the cavern walls. "I'll show you the normal way in and out, in case of an emergency." Saori could not help but think, it would have been nice if you had shown me earlier.

* * *

"AND THAT'S THE LAST customer," said Tenten. The lunch rush hour had ended and left a mess of dirty dishes and tables in its wake. She wiped her hands on a worn rag. Neji and she had quite literally salvaged the restaurant from itself; what was once a rotting and almost out of business shop. The original purpose of the business was to serve tea only - save a few snacks - but with Tenten and Neji, it had flourished to become "the" place to be for social gatherings and business meetings; that is, "the" place outside of Amegakure. Shinobi rarely came here and they were always wary when they did.

"People will start to wonder," whispered Neji.

"Of what?" Tenten responded.

"We brought up this establishment yet we haven't taken ownership."

"Well wouldn't getting ownership only a few months of living here raise suspicion?"

"Yes, but as does not taking ownership."

"Talk about a no-win situation." Quiet. "How much longer are we going to stay like this?"

"Forever, if we have to. We've no place to go," Neji replied, shaking his now short blonde hair free. Tenten loosened the ribbon capturing her brown- red hair in a mid-length ponytail.

"If we just had a name, a place…"

"Don't we all dream?"

* * *

THEY CONSTANTLY RAN. THERE was no rest for Sasori, Deidara, Saori, and Sakura. The latter remembered it well - the pain in her throat, the lungs crying for fresh air, and the legs screaming for rest- all she had experienced like never before. Sakura was no the type to complain - during this run for their lives, she had complained more times than she had in her lifetime. On some legs of rough travel, Sasori carried her on his back. He alone was their driving force. He did not complain of pain once. He knew no limits and pushed all three of his younger companions farther than they had ever before.

The kind of running Sakura was doing now could not even compare. Days upon days of running on insufficient nutrition passed but she, unlike her teammates, felt like she could still go a long, long way. She smiled inwardly, reflecting how much she had grown from her escapade, how much she realized she had been missing out on. As an only child, she never go tot know what it was like to be a motherly elder sister. She treated Deidara and Saori like young, reckless siblings. And for a time, they were. They really were.

Her legs went on autopilot, her senses dulled as she recalled the perilous journey she had undertaken.

* * *

"_SASORI-DANNA, THEY CAN'T keep up, hmm," said Deidara. Sakura was only a short way behind him, but Saori was falling behind. At the time, Saori had thought she was fast. Only a few genin - Toyotomi included when he was a genin - were faster than she was. Speed and her fire jutsu had been her ultimate weapons. But now her inflated head was popped without warning, and she realized how outclassed she really was. Sasori and Deidara shamed her in terms of speed; Sakura, in terms of endurance._

_Sasori glanced back at Saori's bobbing black head and swerved to the right. "We'll make a stop. Sakura, heal Deidara when we do," Sasori ordered. It did not please the pinkette whatsoever, evidently._

"_You call that a break? Don't you think I might be tired too? Make Deidara sculpt a bird. They we'd be moving and resting," Sakura testily responded. _

"_What, are you stupid?" snapped Deidara. "Something must have happened while I was away, because the last time I checked, big, all-white birds that fly at breakneck speeds did not exist naturally, hmm! And people had eyeballs, too! Moreover, my chakra network is what needs to be healed, idiot!"_

"_Alright, bad idea, I get it! Cool your jets," muttered Sakura. "Then let's go into town, get something to eat, and some new clothes. Your Akatsuki garb and my outfit are too easy to recognize. My bets are that Iwa shinobi will be the ones after us, so chances are they will be able to recognize Saori by her clothes too. We can use the clothes we're wearing now to throw them off if they're following us by scent."_

"_Getting new clothes is a waste of time. No one cares that your clothes are no in pristine condition, Haruno," interrupted Sasori. She raised an annoyed fist at him._

"_Did you not hear my reasoning at all?"  
_

_After a moment, Sasori raised the white flag. "Alright, we'll do what Sakura planned. Be quick."_

"_Great choice, danna! I didn't think she'd shut up any other way, hmm -"_

"_You jerk!"  
_

"_Shut up. We're at town. Deidara, take off your clock. Headbands off. We don't' want to let anybody know we're shinobi," said Sasori._

"_Even though we're going into a shinobi clothing store, hmm?"_

"_Sakura, assist Deidra when he changes clothes. Don't let them know he is injured. It will raise suspicion. If anyone asks, Deidara is courting you."_

"_Alriiight, Sakura-chan, hmm."_

"_I believe we use the term 'dating' now, Akasuna. And don't get any ideas, Deidara, or your arm won't be the only thing broken," Sakura sneered._

"_Ouch, ouch, hmm." The four made graceful landings, and, after all four had taken deep breaths and slowed their heartbeats, walked into town. Sasori made note of the town sentries while Sakura held onto Deidara's right arm. Sasori pushed the door of the clothier open, holding it so Sakura and Deidara could pass through. Saori squeezed through before the door snapped shut on her. "Remember to find civilian clothes. And don't take too long," Sakura had told Saori, who didn't appear to be listening, before going off to find clothes that would not immediately give her away as a shinobi. The only thing Saori kept in mind was that these clothes could be the very one she would be spending a long, long solitary time in._

_"Sasori" - he gave her a pointed look - "... sama, I don't have much money on me..." He rolled his eyes. The least she could have done was be straightforward about what she was after. He held up a finger, carrying a stack of clothes with him into one of the dressing rooms. When he came back out, his pants were rolled neatly under his arm, and he held a wad of cash. Saori resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. The insides of pants were a strange place to be putting cash but she supposed it worked._

_He pulled out five bills of very large denominations, handing it to her without a word before heading to the cashier. Keeping her eyeballs and jaws in place, she quickly stuffed it in her pocket, hurrying to pick out the clothes she that had caught her eye right away. Sasori never seemed to be the generous type; because of that, she knew the cash she had been given was not just for her clothing, but to set her off on the inevitable moment where she would have to make it out on her own as a missing-nin._

_Her first stop was to the bathroom, to finally wash out the dye that had stained her hair for almost seven years. She watched the inky black become diluted as it swirled down the drain. It felt as though a heavy weight had finally been lifted off of her back, another mask she had finally been able to shed. But it also left the aftertaste of sadness. That mask had been a part of her life for a long, long time; it felt like she was leaving a part of herself behind and that years later, no on would remember the girl she had been, "Ootowari" Sora._

_Saori glanced at her reflection. Just three months ago, she had looked much younger and in love with a difficult life, but in love nonetheless because of one person. Sora and Saori looked nowhere the same, not even in their gold eyes, yet they had been on in the same. She fumbled in her pant pocket for the blade Toyotomi had given her what seemed to be ages and ages ago. It seemed so long since she had last seen him, last heard his velvet voice. Pulling some knotted hair free, locks of bright red hair fell into the rubbish bin aside the sink, restoring her hair to the shortness it had known for the first seven or eight years of her life. The only part of her hair that was left alone was a long patch of hair, which was dyed blue to match her father's hair color eleven years ago at age three. It was befuddling how most of the dye still retained its blue hue._

_She snuck into the first available dressing room in hopes none of her companions saw her red hair yet. Only Sasori knew she once had red hair, the same shade as her mother's. Putting on her new clothes with as much haste as Sasori and Sakura had, Saori walked tentatively out of the dressing room she had been occupying. She knew she would hear it from Sakura later, as her clothing was far from that of a normal civilian. She pulled a long ninja headband off a hanger. It bore no plate, but transference was easy. She need a hitai-ate that would still fit years from now, when her head was likely to be physically larger. On her way to the cash register, a knife caught her eye. The handle was twisted and black, the blade a dark gray. She had always wanted one of those weapons that almost became one with you, but she never quite got around to training with one. Katana were not her sort of thing; she was a quick little fighter and katana were just that inefficient._

_Down the aisle, Sakura caught sight of Saori and immediately began thinking of things to rebuke Saori for. Deidara noticed her distress, turning to sight the cause of it. He froze. The red hair was quite the drastic change, but there was something bigger amiss, something more significant. His fuzzy memory pulled him back to the night he left Iwa. He vaguely remembered that miserable and freezing night. He had an "incident" with his best friend, who he felt had betrayed him. He had been heading out through the main highway - and came across a little girl in thin, loose rags, the kind of clothing they were to keep cool under the blazing sun in the south. He was about let her die there; frankly, at that moment, he was sick of women, as one had just betrayed him. But in an awkward moment of compassion, he brought the kid to his old home and never looked back._

_Did that scrawny kid have hair of the same hue? He swore the hair had been a darker red, but with time and the darkness of the night, he could no longer be sure. "Whoa, don't be suicidal, yeah," teased Deidara, who strode up to Saori's side. "Want it? I think I might find it in myself to buy it for you."_

"_No," Saori responded, "It's nice, and I like the blade's color, but I'd probably lose it quickly, knowing me. Will you be by the door with Sakura?" She made the motions to pay for her apparel, putting the knife back where it belonged._

"_Nah, I'm going to buy something. You wait at the door with Sakura; I'll pay for your stuff. To save time, hmm."_

"_Okay." Deidara glanced at her retreating back before snatching the knife and heading to the cashier._

"_I see you didn't listen," noted Sakura._

"_I have hearing problems," Saori returned._

"_Really? I'll take a look at your ears for you, then."  
_

"_That will have to wait. Where is Deidara?" interrupted Sasori, who walked into the store in fresh clothes and with a white plastic bag in hand. Saori supposed it was foodstuffs._

"_Here, danna," replied the requested man._

"_We have to get out of here. I do not know how the hell it happened, but we're being cornered. Let's go." In the next second they were in flight, narrowly missing a patrol of shinobi. None of the others noticed but Sasori did; the tracking unit bore Kiri hitai-ate._ So the deal went through.

_They had no idea where they were; the landscape was obliterated in some areas, and just a few meters over, it would be flourishing with vivid vegetation. They were confident they were not in the uncharted territories west of Iwa, as they had never quite gotten past the Ootowari Estate. They agreed, silently, to stay together until the situation was figured out, for separate and untold reasons._

_Their days consisted mostly of eating on the run, trying not to choke while swallowing, sleeping a few hours in the night, and constant near-death situations that were the result of low chakra levels. After two days of amiss shinobi tracker units, Sasori allowed them to take a longer overnight rest than usual. He fished his supply bag for two soldier pills and shoved them into Sakura's mouth. She glared at him while she chewed, the horrid taste provoking a need to purge. She knew what was coming next. "Heal him, Haruno," he demanded._

_At the moment, Sakura had all the intentions of disobeying the puppetmaster but one glance at Deidara and her mind changed in an instant. Maybe she had been too stubborn for too long. He was a miserable-looking creature, his right arm bulging red form swelling. Sakura inhaled deeply and sized his arm. "Deidara, I'm going to have to break you arm again, alright? It didn't heal properly." He vigorously nodded, desperate for relief._

"_Wait," said Sasori, pulling out Deidara's tattered Akatsuki robe. He tore a length from it and firmly tied it around Deidara's head to gag him. Saori sat dumbfounded, but not for long. The sound of the snap alone was enough to make her sick, but the fund did not end there. The screaming was worse than fingernails on chalkboard, despite being muffled. Saori slapped her hands over her ears. Deidara bit his tongue, blood beginning to dribble down his chin. Those Iwa interrogators had known exactly what they were doing - for all he knew, they might have been preparing for his capture since he left. They had seriously screwed up his arm; broken arms were easy fixes. Fixing his disturbed chakra network and untwisting muscles (which to Sakura's surprise were notable in size despite his lanky appearance) and whatever else they did was a bit of trouble and plenty painful._

_Not ten minutes had passed before Saori got up, making the motions to leave. Not that Sasori would allow it. "Sit down," he hissed, a vice-like grip on her forearm._

_"You want me to sit and listen to this?" she replied._

_"I'm not letting you out of my sight so you can run away and I won't leave Sakura alone with Deidara either. She'll kill him the moment I look away. Sit. Plug your fingers in your ears, do something, but you're not leaving." Sakura fought the want to protest on Saori's behalf and give Sasori a good slap in the face. Deidara kept his muffled screams of pain. Maybe Deidara had a right to detest Iwa so much. Saori stared pityingly at him, despite knowing he hated pity. At least his eyes were squeezed shut and he wouldn't have to see it._

_Much to the surprise of Sasori and Sakura, she sat down closer to the source of misery than she had been before. She grabbed his unoccupied hand, forcing it from its clenched position. His hand quickly captured hers in a death grip. She forced away her own wish to scream - Deidara was an eighteen year old S-Rank missing-nin and was undoubtedly strong - and let him continue crushing her small hand, knowing it offered just a small piece of comfort._

_Sometime later, Saori realized she was getting feeling back in her numbed fingers, and that Deidara was no longer gripping her hand. In a panic, Saori gently slapped his sweaty face. "Hey. Hey! Are you okay?"_

_Deidara bleakly pried his eyes open, sad blue orbs staring at her. Damn, that awkward scar that ran over her right eye diagonally sure seemed familiar. "I know you," he suddenly choked._

"_What?" she replied. He began laughing hysterically. Sakura did not pause her work but was without doubt freaked._

"_It's funny," he continued, somehow pulling his gag under his chin. "I knew you wouldn't stay in Iwa for long, but who would have known we'd be here now, you and me?"  
_

"_What the hell…"_

"_Seven years ago… I was eleven when I left Iwa and became their youngest and most dangerous missing-nin. I found you. Scrawny little you, hmm. I almost didn't save you, hmm. Almost. What were you, four?"_

"_Seven."  
_

"_Didn't seem like it, hmm. I remember now. Your scar. You hide it under your hair like it's your shame, hmm. Why do that? Show 'em bastards you're still here, hmm."  
_

"_I don't…" Deidara's reading was true. Initially her bangs were parted to the right because that was the way Naomi had worn hers. but after Naomi fled and Saori lost almost all of her sight in her right eye, she grew out her bangs so no one would mark or judge her for the mar on her skin._

"_Enough chit chat, more concentration," commanded Sasori, who made note of the green glow around Sakura's hands flickering as she watched her patient and Saori._

"_Freakin' slave driver," muttered Deidara. Saori quietly laughed, glad his humorous nature was back. It meant the worse had passed and it would be a smooth ride there on out. The green glow disappeared at last._

"_Done!" Sakura cheerily announced. She had been at work since mid-afternoon and it was now evening._

"_Does he need anything?" Sasori queried._

"_Some vitamins and rest would do him some good. Nutritious food, too. None of that cheap junk you've had us eating."  
_

"_Hell yes on the food, hmm! If I couldn't see I would've though you were Kakuzu, Sasori-danna, hmm!" Deidara laughed._

"_Come. We'll restock our supplies. Deidara, I take it you can handle Saori?" Sasori ignored Deidara's comment about his current parsimonious habit._

"_You kidding me? The girl's a twig, hmm!"  
_

"_I'm not a twig…," Saori muttered._

"_In muscles you are, hmm!"_

"_Oh, gee thanks, Deidara!"_

"_We'll leave you two to it. Let's go," Sasori concluded, saying the same two words for what seemed to Sakura the hundredth time. He began walking._

"_See you in a bit!" called Sakura. The night swallowed them. Little did Sakura know, it would be more than a whole night before she would see either of them again. Sakura forgot to remove her vest, which bore her clan's sign, and her ninja hitai-ate. Sasori forgot to remind her. They walked through the town's main entrance, having not found any other way that did not have sentries. Jumping over the surrounding wall would raise instant alarms. The man posing as the main gate sentry grinned as they walked by. _

"_Alpha, Gamma have arrived."  
_

* * *

_MEANWHILE, SAORI SET THEM up with a nice fire. The sun was gone, letting the temperature drop. To keep Deidara warm, she threw Sasori's Akatsuki cloak around him and tried to make a sling out of his own, though he refused to wear it because not only did it look "half-assed" he would have to be a "half-assed man" to wear one. She offered to use her fire-like chakra to keep his hands warm but he rejected that too. He wasn't a "lame cripple" to throw "pity on," Deidara had announced playfully. It seemed to him Saori gave him much more respect upon knowing she owed her life to him. Instead of focusing on recovery, Deidara busied himself with palm reading activities, as Deidara was intent on having some fantastical power like Saori had with her Kekkei Genkai, the Mind's Eye._

_"And this line here? It means you'll have a short life, hmm," he proudly told her. Who knew he was so incredibly right. She put up a mock expression of anger._

_"How could you say that? Do you want me to die?" Deidara chuckled, a beautiful smile perched on his lips, Saori's small hand still comfortably in his larger one, He said something along the lines of "think what you want to," but was midway interrupted. He visibly - and she felt him - tensed. His mouth had bitten. Quickly, he withdrew his arm, attempting to get away, but not quick enough. Saori's arm snapped out and grabbed his right wrist. "Deidara..." she slowly started, forcing him to turn his palm over. _Not again, not again,_ he thought. "You have a mouth on your hand."_

_Exasperated, he snapped, "Yeah, I think I would know, hmm!" She released her grip and he rushed to hide his Kekkei Genkai from her view. "What's next, you're going to call me a freak?"_

_"Why would I say that?" she asked, confused._

_"Who wouldn't, hmm?" he muttered, half to himself._

_"Well, excuse you, I read minds. If you think mouths on your hands are strange, you've got another thing coming." He paused. Personally he felt his hands were stranger, but reading everybody's minds... life must have sucked. "Besides, I think they're kind of neat. They make you different. Special."_

_"You're weird, yeah."_

_"Well," she began, a smirk forming, "I think I would know."_

* * *

_ELSEWHERE, THERE WAS A heavier, darker mood. Sakura didn't appreciate Sasori's dictatorial behavior so much, ordering her to do this and that. She, frankly, was getting tired of it. "How much longer?" Sasori demanded to know._

"_As long as it freaking takes, got it?" Sakura retorted. The cashier paused he work, the receipt running as the woman stared at them. Sakura plastered a fake smile on her face. "Brothers, they can be so annoying."_

"_Brothers?" the cashier asked, glancing at the stark difference in hair colors._

"_She meant boyfriend. She's rather slow, in all respects. Thank you," Sasori corrected as he pulled the receipt free, leaving Sakura red-faced from embarrassment, humiliation, anger, and though she ferociously denied it, blushing._

"_The hell's your problem, Akasuna?" Sakura hissed. He grabbed her wrist and started walking as fast as would pass for 'normal.'_

"_We're being shadowed. Why didn't you take off your hitai-ate?"  
_

"_Oh, shoot. Why didn't you remind me?"  
_

"_For get that, run. Now!" They pumped whatever chakra they had left in their stores and ran hard. Their pursuers were right behind them. Sasori whipped out a scroll, summoning one of his restored puppets, the Third Kazekage._

"_But I -"_

"_Does that really matter right now?" he replied. "Satetsu, Iron Sand!" Sakura had no intentions of glancing behind her to witness the blood bath or to acknowledge the disappearing chakra signatures. There had been quite an impressive number of pursuers; Sasori was rather good at relieving them of their duties. The duo sped through and by multiple villages, leaving a bloody trail behind them. Sakura led the way, trying to circle back to Deidara and Saori. After hours of hard running, it seemed the trackers had all been killed or had given up and retreated. Sakura slumped down to the foundation of a muted yellow house. They had spent more time than they had originally intended away from Deidara and Saori. Sasori's red hair and especially Sakura's pink hair had been dead giveaways. Silently, Sakura wished they all had less ostentatious hair colors._

"_Damn… we left them too close to Deidara and Saori. They wouldn't be ready," Sasori huffed. Though they had lost their pursuers, they were still in need of rest from the extreme and extended running they had endured. The sun was well into the sky. Sakura paused, then, "Sasori... why the hell are you out of breath?" Underlying her question was another he was well aware of: was he mocking her humanity?_

_He glared at her. "You don't need to know." She watched his smooth chest rising and falling. It seemed real, his need to breathe._

_"If you're mocking me -"_

_Sasori leapt to his feet. "God damn, Haruno, not everything is about you. I do need to breathe, is that so hard for you to accept?"_

_She was now on hers. "Of course it is! I'm not joining any pity party of yours so you could stab me straight through the back -"_

_"Like _you_ did to _me_?"_

_"Damn right!" she snapped, despite the fact she hadn't actually done any of the stabbing._

_"You wonder why I'm alive, don't you? Well it came at a price." He slapped a hand over his chest. "This! This is all wood, not flesh. But this -" he moved over towards where his heart might lay were he human "- this is real. I have organs. I have to breathe to function. I was fine being dead. I was pulled back and _this_ is what I have to live with. Succumbed to _all _human necessities in an almost entirely wooden body! You took all that I lived for away from me when you killed me, Haruno Sakura!"

* * *

_

**Autho****r's Note: **Please review!_  
_


	10. Of Friends and Lovers

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is not owned by me! Plotline and original fan characters by me (/Jessarai fanfiction net)

**

* * *

Chapter Nine** Of Friends and Lovers

She did not want to be sympathetic. She was right to kill him; he was an S-rank nukenin with an international death warrant. By killing him, she saved thousands of lives that would have fallen under his fearsome jutsu. Wasn't that true? Wasn't it? Why, then, did she feel guilt when she faced him after the deed was done? Two wrongs never made a right, but that's what Konoha taught her; person A kills one of us, you kill person A without thinking. It should be automatic, a given. She had never come to realize how screwed up Konoha's teachings were. Sakura had tricked her self into flag-waving and only now she came to confront it. Because when she killed Sasori not only did she wrongfully take a life, she took away his passion and destroyed his philosophy, his way of life. But could she ever be sorry for what she did? Being sorry for killing him and feeling sympathetic were two things that were far from the same.

_Sasori's chest rose and fell more dramatically. Sakura did not even have to look to know Sasori's pride was a damaged, decayed thing. Only then did her accusation of mockery seem so juvenile, so sophomoric. But Sakura was not about to verbally apologize to the man not long ago she wished she had stabbed in the back._ **You took his reason for living. He's just a shell. Why don't you think of that?** _If she had lost everything she lived for, where would she be?_

"_Sorry" wasn't going to fix the problem. "Sorry" had become a meaningless utterance. It didn't show regret or compassion or sympathy. Words only spoke a fraction of what action could. Tentatively, she closed the uneasy gap between herself and Sasori. It was likely the last thing he wanted, last thing she wanted to do, too. She felt him struggle to free himself from her embrace but she would not let go, not until she was sure he accepted his apology. Only he would not be accepting any apology of hers. A hug, an apology, it all meant nothing to him. Not years before, when he was an emotionless puppet, and not even now, when he was burdened with human necessities and emotions. He was still in pain, in hurt and something as simple as that would never fix it. "Sasori, please, I'm trying to -"_

"_Go," he hoarsely whispered as he shoved her from him none too lightly._

"_What?" Sakura asked, her short temper thrusting about to kick in._

"_I said go. If you want to go and frolic in the fields and hug trees, then fine. We don't need you."  
_

"_What about Deidara? He needs me. And what are you going to do with Saori?"_

_He didn't even know how Sakura had the powers to make him answer to her. He was setting her free, yet here she was, asking about, worry about others. "Deidara can heal on his own. I'll make Saori a subordinate of mine, to replace Kabuto, when I'm back in Akatsuki."_

_Her temper broke free. "You're going to affiliate her with Akatsuki? That would put a death sentence on her!"  
_

_Sasori's temper returned the favor. "You think she doesn't already have one?"_

"_From Iwa! That's one country. She'll always be safe in Fire Country as long as I'm around but that won't happen if she's affiliated with Akatsuki. All affiliates, anything that has a trace of Akatsuki, have internationally valid death warrants. You can't do that, you can't kill her like that!"_

"_You're blind, Haruno! Almost all countries, including Ame and Kusa, have formed a partnership with Akatsuki, an alliance. That death warrant issued by Iwa isn't only valid there, not anymore. It's valid in every country. It is, and so is yours. Fire Country is of little significance. It'll be gone in a few months, if it isn't already. Akatsuki wins, Haruno. Akatsuki wins." Sakura tore her hardened expressions of rage from his doll face and bolted past him. She was going to prove him wrong. She was going to prove him wrong._

* * *

_WHEN DEIDARA WOKE UP deep into the morning, the only mass of red he could see was that of Saori's head. He mussed up her hair with his good arm to wake her, also in knowing it would annoy her. "Get up, yeah. You'll never make it out here with that kind of laziness, hmm."_

_Saori grumbled and inched up into a sitting position, trying to wipe the tiredness from her eyes without luck. "Wait... didn't Sasori-sama come back yet?"_

_Deidara shrugged, "Dun know where they are, but we have to move. Number one rule for missing-nin, never stay in one place too long, even for us Akatsuki people; we have to constantly change base. Usually, hmm."_

_"How are Sasori-sama and Sakura going to find us?"  
_

_"If they don't find us, big deal. Sasori will dump Sakura and I'll meet him back at home home base, hmm."_

_"What about me?"_

_"I'll just ditch you, yeah. You think I'm taking you with me? Hah, that's a good laugh, hmm."_

_"You make it sound like I'm a bother."_

_"Tch, you didn't think you were?" Saori decided it was better for herself-esteem if she didn't acknowledge the question and instead busied herself packing up camp as it seemed Deidara considered it below him to do so. "Help me, yeah!" he snapped, head motioning to his tattered Akatsuki cloak which he was trying to make a sling out of. Apparently he wouldn't be a "half-assed" man if he made the sling or something stupid like that. She tired it for him, going on her tiptoes and forcing him to bend over as she wrapped it around his neck. Suddenly, his good arm lashed out and gripped on to Saori's wrist. He gave her a look, to which she nodded. They had company._

_Deidara held four fingers up. Four men, a regular platoon. Saori's heart raced. This would be the first real fight she'd have as a real missing-nin. Was she up to it? She had Deidara on her side (at least she thought so), but who was to say he wouldn't just take her hostage or something like that (not that she wasn't already a hostage)? Apparently Deidara had neither in mind. He held three fingers up, each finger going down slowly one by one .When the last finger went down, both shoved immense amounts of freshly replenished chakra down their legs to their feet, sending them at ridiculous speeds blazing through the forest. Later, they would wonder how they went through it without being hit on the head. _

* * *

_SHE HAD NO REASON to be running so fast. Maybe it was because of the running Sasori had recently enforced in her or perhaps the thrill of going home after a long, long time. Was Naruto looking out for her? Had he even been told she was either dead or kidnapped? Was Kiba and Ino, the two who had been on the squad patrolling with her, escaped into the safety of Konoha? What was with this region anyway? It was mostly so barren and its people even more so. Questions would only have a little bit to wait, Sakura promised, because answers were in Konoha. Well. That's where she thought she was going._

"_Gamma located, I repeat, Gamma located!" yelled some male voice. Oohhh, how she wished her gut feeling didn't tell her she was probably Gamma._

"_Surround her, surround her! Seal off exits, take the target alive!" ordered who was probably the leader. "You, report back to Central, let them know Gamma has been captured." Well, if that wasn't so cocky of them._ Oh shoot, oh shoot! _Sakura erroneously miscalculated her abilities; now it got her surrounded by shinobi of multiple hidden villages. "Haruno Sakura, we are to take you alive. However, if necessary, we will take you dead too. No one needs to know the specifics of your status."_

"_Not if I get a say about it," said another. Wait. That voice sounded pretty familiar, like it belonged to a certain redheaded -_

"_What the -"Screams and gurgles created a grotesque symphony as men fell one after another around Sakura._

"_Don't you even think about lecturing me on not valuing human lives. We don't have time; there's more coming," Sasori snapped, pulling her behind him and not a moment too soon. An explosion erupted where they were just seconds before._

* * *

_THEY WERE CLOSE. AT times it felt like their closeness was suffocating Saori, but mostly it was her imagination that induced the thought. Deidara had no issues with throwing his bombs about, sending shrieks, along with body parts, into the air. He didn't ask for her help and she didn't bother. Let the two-year-old play, she thought quietly. His arm was violently swinging about in its sling, but if it hurt she wouldn't know because he didn't show it. "Move faster, yeah!"_

"_You think I'm trying to get caught?" Saori retorted._

"_How should I know, hmm? You seemed pretty obsessive about Ootowari."_

"_Alright, fine, I like him and you don't. This isn't the time to discuss this!" Her long lock of blue whipped the tree branch her head just missed. "Katon: Sparrow Shuriken!" Two fiery (literally) sparrows spewed forth from her mouth, just as Deidara sent to of his own unique fowl creations flying. He wasn't about to have Saori ruin his show, his bird colliding into Saori's fire sparrows._

"_Katsu!" Both fugitives had to cover their ears, for the explosion was too loud to bear; but Deidara could not look away, his sole visible blue eye sparkling with enthusiastic excitement. "Did you see that, hmm?"_

"_I can't, you dummy. I already have problems with sight in my right eye; I don't need issues in the left to match!"_

"_That was epic, hmm!"_

"_So you can make my ears bleed. I should be impressed because…?"_

"_That wasn't just me, Saori. Your sparrows set my birds on fire and sent ceramic flying everywhere when I exploded it, hmm!"_

_Saori eyed him, just to be sure he was not insane (not that technically by definition he wasn't). "My fire is at a high temperature but it's no where near capable of cooking your clay creations like a kiln but…"_

"_if we let my birds cook longer…," Deidara grinned. Something inside Saori broke loose and before they knew it they were setting Deidara's creations on fire at the hottest temperatures Saori could create - there was even some flicker of blue until it became fully so - and sending them at their pursuers. They watched the ceramic shatter as if it were Saturday morning cartoons and not unknown lives destroyed. "That'll teach them, hmm!"_

"_Wait, wait, wait!" Saori interrupted, swatting at Deidara until he made a funny face at her. "Do you hear that? It sounds like there's fighting ahead."_

_Deidara focused on his sense of hearing and his grin further widened. "Yeah, and who wants to be it's none other than -"_

"_Get moving," Sasori gruffly intervened, running right in between the two with a flailing Sakura stumbling behind him. The Third Kazekage nearly took out Deidara's head._

"_But wait! We're being chased too!" Saori yelled. They were getting boxed in. None of them were used to being the prey and frankly, it did not suit their pallets at all. Sasori's brown eyes darted around, his clammy hands gripping Sakura's wrist tightly as he deeply inhaled. He focused chakra to his ears. IT discovered the joyous sound of fast, rushing water. "Chances are we're by the same river we fell into. That also means we're either in northern Fire Country or close to it. Let's take the river."_

"_But how will we know if we're heading back into Iwa or into the sea?"_

"_That's irrelevant." Their weary limbs carried them to a place where the earth just dropped._

"_Well, shit, I'm not jumping, hmm, not again -"_

"_What are you waiting for?" Sasori leapt over the cliff edge and landed gracefully on the disturbed water (Sakura, too, surprisingly). Deidara blinked at Saori behind him for a few moments before she slipped her miniature hands into his and jumped, him in tow. Deidara decided that though he lived for thrills, jumping off high cliffs were not his thing._

"_Didn't I tell you people to warn me, hmm?" Sasori - well, nobody in actuality - wasn't listening, his trained and experienced eyes picking out a cave's reflection on the surface of the water. He didn't have to order his legs to go; they did on their own. It didn't matter if there was an enormous waterfall at the mouth of the cave and that they would die if they jumped incorrectly - no, the objective was to find a place to hide. Even if there wasn't such a place, then one simply had to be created. Deidara was quick to follow, out of habit, but he stopped when a certain short girl did not follow. "What are you doing, hmm?"_

"_They're just going to follow us through those caves. We should be attacking the problem, get them to stop. Maybe they'll give up if we kill all of these guys. I'll set a box of fire around them - see how they like it - and then…"_

"_I'll blow them to bits. Turkey shoot, hmm! I'm certainly like the way you're thinking, hmm."_

"_Katon: Four Parapets of Imprisonment!" Only a few could skid fast enough to avoid falling into the pit of inferno. Deidara molded an armada of clay fishes and birds; he set them free. Those who avoided falling were not spared from this grotesque show. Debris hit them everywhere, even places where it really shouldn't be, and half the canyon's side crumbled and succumbed to Deidara and Saori's combined work (of art)._

"_C'mon! We'll lose Sasori and Sakura like this, hmm." They both looked tentatively down into the inky blackness of the cave. IT gave not telling of its true depth. They nearly decided to take a different escape route (also known as simply running the other way). That was until a body part floated by and caught them by surprise. You'd think Deidara would be used to them, being the cause of the most of the time. Saori let out a piercing scream and jumped for all it was worth. Deidara hollered at her to wait, despite knowing she couldn't, and jumped head first, which was not such a good idea. When he came to at the bottom, he was alone. With a dead man's forearm floating nearby._

* * *

_SASORI DID NOT KNOW why, but he kept his grip firm on Sakura as they plunged into the roaring of the waterfall. They clung to one another out of panic and quickly released when their movement had stilled, with the exception of their rising chests and pounding hearts. In the back of his mind, Sasori decided that there would be no more blind jumps. "Are you alright?" Sakura sputtered after catching her breath. "I mean, like, can you…?"_

"_I'm fine," Sasori replied tersely. He stood up, droplets following him. He was soaked. That was not good news._

"_You should at least remove your shirt. You'll get cold like that," Sakura advised, shrugging off her vest to dry it off. She hadn't quite thanked him for saving her butt after how she treated him, after she basically ran away. She squeezed as much water as she could manually, using her chakra to draw out the rest._

"_All my clothes are wet. There is no point."_

"_Do you have, um, water resistant… wood?"_

"_I did. I haven't quite been able to apply any in awhile," he bluntly replied, shaking the water from himself as much as possible._

_"Won't you... grow mold? And rot?"_

_"I can worry about that later. Let's keep going and get the hell out of here."_

"_I can dry you off now."_

"_I can do that myself later."_

"_Why won't you just listen to me? You think I want you to die? You'll catch a cold and you'll die from it because you have no immune system!"_

"_Of course you wish death unto me."_

"_Sasori, I don't. I should, but I don't. I can't survive alone down here, and let's face it. You actually are not as awful as I thought you were. You've saved my life time and time again. Last time, you had no reason to save me. I was no longer of use to you. But you did."  
_

"_I decided it was bet if I had you hostage. I need bargaining chips. Saori is too low a ninja to do the job."  
_

"_That's bull, Sasori, and you know it. Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Sakura forcefully turned his head to her. When did she sneak up on him and get so close? "Haven't you ever thought, maybe you were revived for a divine reason, not just to fight for Akatsuki? You are having the second chance so few have ever had; why are you wasting it? You're not bounded to the Akatsuki. You don't have to return to them. They don't deserve someone like you, Sasori. They stuck you in a state of imperfection. They only brought you back so you would fight for them, for their ideals, not yours! They don't care about your art, your puppets. They don't care about how much you're suffering. Screw them, Sasori! Isn't there anything you've always wanted to do that you couldn't? Here's your chance. Forget Akatsuki exists." Actually, there had been something Sasori had been wanting to do since their imprisonment but he didn't think Sakura would be too keen on the idea. Having turned into a work of art at a tender age, he had missed out on quite a bit, but now he was stuck in this state… And she was indirectly telling him to… The inner Sasori smirked cockily. "I can argue with Fire Country on your behalf. I'll make sure they don't bother you so long as you stay of crime. I'll do it, I'll -"_

"_For the sake of my sanity, shut up, woman."_

_Sakura was dumbfounded for all of one minute before replying, "I'm giving you a motivational speech, you -"_

"_Oh," Sasori said smugly. His angel faced seemed unusually and uncomfortably close. "Trust me, I've been motivated." Sakura's mind shut down and soon the only thing she was protesting was whenever his soft lips left her lips and skin._

* * *

_SAORI WAS A LONE (wo)man left to fend on her own in the damp underground network of tunnels. Of course, she might have had it better as she had her fire-type chakra, which kept her warmer than other chakras and permitted light from an inflamed fist. "Hello?" Her voice echoed through the tunnels and was the only sound heard aside from the solitary dripping of water from the gray, depressed ceiling. She hated being alone. After all, if something happened to her, who would know? What if she died down here, all alone? She would disappear off the face of the earth and years later no one would even remember there was once a girl who had many aliases but in her heart, had always been Ookamika Saori. It only forecasted the years to come, the feared moment when she would be a lone missing-nin in a far too large world._

* * *

_EVEN HE HAD TO admit, he was pretty darned lost. Lucky for Deidara, his solitude would not have to last very long. But until then, it was just him… and his thirsty throat. He didn't have any water on him an didn't plan on trying out the water that dripped and pooled on the floor until he found any of the other three to tests it out first. Two days had passed and only soldier pills and a good humor kept him alive. He was dying to have anyone - even Sasori - with him. His mind read y to go into pure insanity, he decided, if he was going to die, he was going to blow up the entire joint for causing his problems first. _

_The plan was good… at first. Surprisingly, there wasn't a cave in and he for the most part didn't get hurt. He blew a straight line through a tick mass of moist rock before coming across an enormous tunnel. Curiosity piqued, he followed it for some time until he saw an orange glow ahead. Whoever shielded it was either short or sitting down. I turned out to be the latter; Saori was boiling water with her chakra to rid it of bacteria and the such. She did not have even the slightest knowledge of his presence. Quietly, he molded some clay, and…_

"_YAAAAAH! What the hell?" Deidara couldn't keep his laughter in - only momentarily to avoid an incoming ball of fire, courtesy of Saori. "Deidara, you could have put me in cardiac arrest!"_

"_So? It'd be even funnier, hmm!"  
_

"_You made me burn myself!" she continued, pointing to the dark blotches on her skirt. He only laughed more._

"_Dude, you look like you shitted, hmm!" He had to dodge her attack yet again. Lighting her fists with fire-type chakra, she set about heating up water again. Deidara's eyes trained on the water. Oh, he wouldn't mind some of that… "What the freak, hmm!" Saori snickered as Deidara grabbed at his face. "You could have burned my face, hmm!"_

"_Well you should be thankful that water has a high heat capacity and that I hadn't boiled it much. You deserved it, don't you deny it!" Between his fingers, Deidara stared at her. A smirk formed just moments before he tackled._

"_Hey! Not cool! Get off if you want water," she laughed. Deidara got off reluctantly and waited impatiently as she boiled away. She wasn't so bad after all. Days later, they found an exit and walked into another world. Not only the land, but the people were impoverished, much more than the ones they had seen before. Saori stared dumbfounded at the dejected villagers. Villages usually had slums; but in these villages, it seemed that the entire village was the slums. The only areas of real activity were the bars and the hostels._

"_Hey, there," a prostitute called as sweetly as her alcohol-ridden mind would permit. Deidara kept on walking, faster now, suddenly gripping onto Saori to the point it felt like her forearm was about to snap in half in response to the pressure. "Boy!" The red-haired, aquamarine-eyed prostitute would not be put off so easily. She staggered over to him, reaching out shortly before being violently slapped away. _

"_Not interested, yeah," Deidara snapped. "Get moving, Ookamika. It's sick." As was the land._

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast, pretty boy," the prostitute mumbled, her dirt-caked fingers nearing too closely to Saori's chin. "She's a nice young one. Looks like me when I was younger. Pity she has that scar, though. Don't find any untainted her age anymore out here. I take it you're taken, boy? I'm willing to buy her out. We need fresh girls."_

"_I'm not taken and she's not for sale, yeah. I sell animals to humans, not the other way around, hmm. She's no good for that job anyways, look. Get the hell away, hmm." Deidara's fingers were getting uncomfortable, practically crushing Saori to his side to create just an inch of sacred space between Saori and her. The prostitute pouted a little before giving up. Saori's eyes stayed on her face until Deidara had shoved her head to face forward. It seemed simply imagined, but Saori felt like she knew the prostitute, who shared the same violent shade of red hair._

_After putting some distance between the woman and them, Saori poked Deidara's side and asked, "Deidara… did you just say I'm not goo enough to be a prostitute? And by extension, that I am not pretty enough to be one?"_

_Immediately, Deidara let go, clearly displeased. "What the hell made you think that, yeah, I never said you aren't pre -"_

"_Well then why did you say 'look'? Why don't you think I could be one?"_

"_Why the hell do you want to be one, hmm? Terrible aspirations, yeah!" Saori's face broke out into a smile._

"_I never said I wanted to be one. I just wanted to know why." Deidara chose not to respond. "You know, it's okay if you don't think I'm pretty. I don't think I am. I can only lie to even myself so much sometimes."  
_

"_Why, hmm?"_

"_What do you mean, why?"_

"_Why don't you think you're pretty, hmm?"_

"_Well, look at the two of us. I've been watching the people as we walk. They always look at you first."_

"_Cause I'm bigger, idiot, hmm!" He had his good humor back._

"_Ahhh… I'll tell you later."_

* * *

_A WHILE EARLIER, SAKURA woke to smooth wood wrapped around her bare skin. She could feel the hard rock through Sasori's Akatsuki cloak. Why was it so cold? "Nhhh… hello? Is anybody there?" she drowsily called. She tensed at movement in her bare shoulder blade. His hair was so soft and gentle, a complete opposite of the owner's personality. "Sasori!" She leapt to her feet, her heart racing, and quickly dressed herself. Sasori rested a moment on his cloak, not pleased he had lost her body warmth, before his brilliant brown eyes opened for her to view._

"_I'm cold now," Sasori replied as she glared at him._

"_I don't care! Do you know what you did?"  
_

"_You motivated me."  
_

"_That's not motivation!"_

_Sasori drowsily tugged his pants on and rose. "Tch. Women always complain after they get what they want." She didn't complain as his lips reached for hers._

* * *

"_THEY NEVER SAY ANYTHING, you know," commented Saori a week after they left the caves. They assumed Sakura and Sasori were still stuck meters under. Deidara shrugged without care on the sparse grass._

"_Maybe whatever happened was so caustic they think you can't not know already, hmm."  
_

"_I want to ask but…"_

"_Being useless, as I thought they would be." Saori's eyes lighted up and Deidara turned to the speaker._

"_Sasori-sama! Sakura!" Saori hollered. __The two mature entities of the cell approached the second half. "Sakura, you're alive…!"_

_The pinkette frowned, pink eyebrows rising in question. "Why wouldn't I be…?" Sakura exchanged glances with Sasori and both shrugged. Sasori used their obscured joined hands to motion the direction of their travel. Deidara protested to movement, resulting in his using his strength to remain planted on the ground while Saori tugged to get him up. He suddenly relinquished, causing Saori to pull too hard and topple over. They laughed at their childish pursuits. Deidara glanced up to keep an eye on Sasori's direction, at which point his sharp eyes spotted Sakura's hands joined with his, which both were trying to hide._

"_Hey, hey," he loudly whispered as he pulled Saori up. "Look at them." Saori followed his line of sight. There was clearly something much unlike hatred fostering between Sasori and Sakura. It prompted immediate discussion between the two child-like shinobi._

"_Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Saori grinned. Sakura tensed, fully able to hear the intentionally loud whisperings behind her. Sasori missed the warmth of her hand._

"_I'm thinking that I am thinking what you're thinking, hmm."  
_

"_You know what would erase all that thinking into knowing?"  
_

"_I'm thinking some Mind's Eye will detect if there's a little somethin' somethin' going on there, hmm."  
_

"_And you won't be doing anymore thinking or mindreading when I gouge out your eyes, Saori!" snapped Sakura over her shoulder._

"_I don't actually need my eyes to read, Akasuna no Sakura-san!" Deidara and Saori burst out laughing._

"_Ignore the Iwa idiots," said Sasori quietly. "They're being kids. One day you'll have your own and they'll act the same stupid way." Sakura didn't say a word. How could she, when she was with child already? _

"_Deidara-kun! I decided," Saori continued after the laughter subsided._

"_What has little Saori-chan decided, hmm?"_

"_I don't know what it takes to be a best friend or how I should know if I have one. But I trust you." Stupid move, he thought. "And I've never had as much fun as I have had with you. Best friends are people you'd save without even thinking, aren't they?"_

"_Yeah, I guess so, hmm."  
_

"_I would."_

"_Would what, hmm?"_

"_I would save you without thinking. Even though any sticky situation you're stuck in is probably too difficult for me, I would. Since I was twelve, I've lived with a weight on my back, quite literally. I wanted to live life to the fullest from then on. I thought I was, but it doesn't compare to when I'm with you, with Sasori-sama, with Sakura, too. So I decided you are my best friend. I feel like I actually belong when I am with you guys." Deidara stiffened a little at the words of 'best friend.' The last best friend he had hadn't quite ended too well. _

_Deidara chuckled. "How did that happen? All of us are much more powerful than you, hmm."_

"_So?"_

"_What do you think of us, really, hmm?"_

"_Well, I imagine you're my brother. Definitely. You're so darned annoying but I still like you. Sakura is someone I think of as a mother. You know, because all she ever does is order us around, if Sasori isn't already doing that. And Sasori… my father. No, my dad. The one I have wished for since I was a little brat in Suna."_

"_Heh, funny. Sakura as your mom, Sasori as your dad."_

"_When you're done playing games," said Sasori. Deidara rolled his eyes. "We'll separate, get the situation. Location is the goal. I don't have half a mind of where we are."_

"_Let's eat first, yeah!" Sasori wasn't given the opportunity to say no as Deidara and Saori seated themselves at the base of a telephone pole. Sakura frowned at the surroundings, which were much greener than before. "So how was your honeymoon, Sakura? I hear damp, underground tunnels are quite the romantic vacation, hmm." His short co-troublemaker burst out laughing alongside him._

"_Don't laugh, Saori! What's with you, you wouldn't have laughed before," Sakura said, placing her hands on her hips to feign anger. IT was hard to be mad at them. They were like kids, albeit Deidara was older than Sakura. Though they were laughing at her expense, seeing their pure innocent happiness made it worthwhile. "It's Deidara, isn't it? Saori, you hang around him too much. He's a bad influence!"_

"_Yare, yare," started Deidara, putting his arm around Saori's neck and pulling her closer as she giggled, "if you keep saying things like that Saori won't like me anymore, hmm."_

"_That's kind of the point!" Slightly annoyed (it was easier to be annoyed at Deidara), Sakura huffed, turning to Sasori, who was doing something to his joint. "Sasori, can't you be responsible and do something? At this rate, Deidara will turn her into an awful, mean missing-nin like hi…"_

_There were only a few moments of amused silence before Saori and Deidara were falling all over themselves on the floor in fits of laughter again. Sakura inhaled deeply. Sasori had an elegantly amused expression himself. "Yes,_ darling, _you were saying?"_

"_Ah, Sakura-chan, hmm," Deidara cut in. "I don't know if you've, ah, noticed, but all of us but you are missing-nin..."_

"_Thanks for the news flash…," Sakura muttered._

"_When you're done eating, we'll split. I'll take Sao -"_

"_That won't be necessary, hmm!" Deidara yelled, running off with Saori in tow. Sakura frowned a moment before narrowing her eyes at Saori, where mischief freely danced. "We'll meet in a couple of days, yeah! Have fun! Don't do anything too stupid, Sasori-danna! And get some, hmm!" The two conspirators left, leaving Sakura and Sasori alone._

"_They're planning something," commented Sasori._

"_Quite."_

* * *

"_IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY sense, hmm!" Deidara wore his Akatsuki cloak and flashy silver Akatsuki ring, thinking he could scare innkeepers into giving him a free room. He was used to the tactic working but here it didn't. Akatsuki did not strike fear into the hearts of the people, despite Deidara blew up the hotel owners of previous rejections. There was a heavy air of hopelessness and Saori had only begun to sift through it all._

"_Maybe we should just pay for a room in the next one," Saori suggested hopefully._

"_Deidara does not pay, hmm." He said it with such a serious face, Saori was convinced he could not be swayed and decided since she was a criminal now anyways, it didn't hurt to ask to stay for free, so long as the owner didn't get hurt unlike those of previous rejections. "Yo!" yelled Deidara obnoxiously loudly, slamming his fist on the counter, making sure to put his Akatsuki ring in plain view. The owner of this motel only briefly glanced at Deidara, then Saori, then back down, making no note of the cloak whose red cloud were easily seen._

"_5000 ryo a night a person. 100000 total for one night. Nothing less."  
_

"_You think we can't go to another place, hmm?"_

"_No one else has as nice a room as I do."_

"_Well, look here, boy," Deidara growled, using his Akatsuki ring-graced finger to point at his Akatsuki cloak. "Akatsuki don't pay."_

_The owner snorted, "The Akatsuki doesn't exist. I thought you fakers would have stopped weeks ago, but there's always that lagging idiot..."_

_"Excuse me, yeah?"_

_"Akatsuki doesn't exist. You can't scare us with that crap."_

_"You want to see what I can -"_

_"Sir. I really don't think you should doubt him. He's been occupied for awhile but he really is Akatsuki," Saori interrupted. Attracting attention with even more flashy bombs was not part of the plan. The owner sighed, noting the desperation in Saori's voice._

_"500 ryo a night a person. It don't get much cheaper 'an that."_

_"The hell, I said Akatsuki don't pay -"_

_"That'sfinethanksforthedeal!" Saori sputtered out, snatching Deidara's bag in search for his money pouch._

_"Only dumb people stick their wallets in their bags, yeah," Deidara bluntly said, fishing his pant pocket for his wallet. As they walked upstairs, he was fuming about having to have paid anything, but it got worse when they got to the room. "Dude. It has one bed."_

_Saori only gave the thought of a single bed a moment before she jumped face first onto the relatively clean-looking covers, not caring about all the bugs that might be crawling around or the dust she had roused. It had been a long, long time since she had known the comfort of her (his, technically) bed. This dirty bed was much, much better than the nonexistent one she had come to know in the prison or the harsh earthen floor. "I'm not dealing with this shit for 500 ryo a night, yeah!" snapped Deidara, making the motions to go and blow up the owner._

_"Deidara, just be happy you even can get a decent bed in this area. If your eyes weren't glued to a certain area of most women who walked by you, then you might have noticed how poor this part of our world is."_

_Deidara completely disregarded the first part, "Yeah, poor and stupid. They think the Akatsuki doesn't exist anymore."_

_"Please... you already paid it. Just steal it back in the morning or something." Reluctantly, Deidara retreated, only because in his mind he promised himself when Saori was out of the inn and he had stolen the owner's money, he would blow the entire thing up._

_The bed creaked under his weight, much heavier than Saori's. He had to agree; right now, he was much relieved to have a soft thing underneath his sore and tired body. Saori had been quiet for a time now, but he couldn't see her face so he couldn't read her. "Penny, hmm?"_

_"Mhmm?" she mumbled incoherently._

_"I said penny, yeah."_

_"Penny for what?"_

_"Your thoughts."_

_"I don't usually charge for my thoughts..."_

_"It's an idiom, yeah."_

_"Oh."_

_"... Two pennies?"_

_"Oh, right. I was just thinking. You're a boy but you're a lot prettier than I am. I see it, when people walk by. They look at you first because you're bigger than me. But they always look back at you. Sometimes I wonder, maybe it would be better to have been born a boy. I might be dead and I might have never met you, but it just makes me wonder."_

_"Why do you want to be a boy? To make me gay?"_

_"No... I never said anything about that. I'm just saying, you're already prettier than me and girls are supposed to be prettier so that makes me wonder what advantage do I get for being a girl? My dad was sexist and hated it. We are unappreciated as kunoichi. I don't see the value." She glanced at Deidara, who had a big smirk on his face. "What?"_

_"You... are so oblivious, yeah."_

"_Oblivious about what?"_

"_Nothing, nothing, hmm. First, stop saying that I am prettier than you. I'm a dude, hmm! It ruins muy manliness. Don't worry about being pretty. I think you're fine and all that matters is what Deidara thinks. Got it, hmm?"_

"_Deidara? I'm glad you're my best friend." She did not notice he did not call her his best friend, let alone friend, once. "I was serious before, you know. I would give my life to you in an instant." Little did she know that one day, she would.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Please review ^_^ And always check out my deviantart account (username Saisuki) to look at the 100 Flashes... visuals are always nice!


	11. Fears and Regrets

**Author's Note:**I think it's been over a year since I last updated! This apter has actually been written for a long time, but I did not have the energy to type it. I was also stuck on page 175 for forever (chapter 11). I'm still not done with chapter eleven but I might add there is a spicier dash of SasoSaku in that one than I normally put. I don't imagine them to be the gushy types so I try to express their love explicitly without them having to be so explicit about it.

This isn't beta'd in the slightest. It was never beta'd and usually I didn't have to worry about it. As of late for some reason I find I am misspelling a lot of words. Just now I found "Waterfall vile" instead of "village." I guess I'm not pressing some keys hard enough. Please enjoy, new readers and the faithful that have stayed despite the fact that I don't think any are here! Please **review** too.

Oh, and I might add that **the 100 Flash project**, the visual component to this story, but in a chronological order, was finished as of December 31st, 2010.

* * *

**Chapter Ten** Fears and Regrets

_IF SASORI DIDN'T KNOW soon, Sakura feared he would be too detached to accept he was going to have a child. But Sakura was also afraid he would not accept it in the first place. _

_Sasori was neither blind nor an idiot, so he knew masquerading his Akatsuki gear would get them nowhere. He was a little intimidating himself, with his dark glower and cold stance, so getting a discounted room was of ease. He dumped his belongings on one of the twin beds. He ignored the clear discomfort of Sakura, who sat in thought on the other bed. She was old enough now to face her problems when she was able to. He simply continued fumbling with things that didn't need fumbling with to keep the pretense of preoccupation. "Sasori?"_

"_Hhmm," he responded, voice muffled because of a scroll he kept firmly in his mouth._

"_I'm… I'm having a… a kid."_

_Sasori did not stop his work for a moment. "Yes."_

"_It's kind of… your… kid."_

"_Yes."  
_

"_Is that all you have to say?" Sasori looked up, sensing her temper rising. "Yes isn't even a proper reply!"_

"_What did you expect me to say?"_

"_How about, is it a boy? A girl? Twins? I expected you to be angry and punch the wall. Or me."_

_There was a slight pause when he heard the last part leave her lips but he feigned confusion over a puppet part he was fixing. "Why would I ask? I already knew."  
_

"_You… knew?"_

"_I can trace even the faintest of chakra signatures. I feel two around you. I am thinking you thought I lived thirty-six years of brilliance without a brain."_

"_No, no, but… why didn't you say anything?"_

"_I was waiting for you to say it out of your own volition."_

"_Why?"_

"_How am I to know if you should like to raise a child with me, the infamous S-Rank missing-nin, Suna's terror, Akasuna no Sasori? I should like it if our child had both its parents, but if you would like that I would not know." Because he hadn't had his own growing up, he experienced the solitude first hand. He knew every nook of its loneliness, every crack of the heart. And as heartless as he had become, he did not wish to repeat the same torment on his own flesh and blood._

_Gently, Sakura took his hands in hers. His knuckles lightly brushed her stomach, which had a few weeks to go before showing serious signs. She kissed him sweetly on his cheek, mimicking him, "I should like that too." Sasori freed one of his hands and placed it at the base of her neck so that their foreheads could touch._

"_I'll teach you the highest level genjutsu you will ever know," he said quietly. Sakura broke into a knowing smile._

"_Oh really now?"_

"_Yes, so that you can hide our child. But before that…"_

* * *

_THE DOOR WEARILY PROTESTED, or maybe it was just the hinges. It didn't matter which was complaining; something was, and it attested to the despair that thundered upon the people and the land. "What would send these people into such hopelessness?" was the dominant question that only Saori seemed to care about. Deidara ignored it all; she felt it as heartlessness but he already had gotten over the devastating poverty from years as a missing-nin. _

_Deidara, however, still had difficulty getting over the single bed, which Saori felt she had rights to plop in the middle of. "Your life sucks," she mumbled through the dusty pillow._

"_Hell, I'd say your sucks worse, hmm." He didn't bother asking her to move over, favoring to simply push her over. She was light enough to do so with ease._

"_How can mine suck worse? You get a different bed every night. You've had this sucky lifestyle longer than I have."_

"_Tch, but I don't have a different bed. I get food, clothes, and housing from Akatsuki. You have nothing, hmm."_

"_No, I have… something."  
_

"_Like what, hmm?"_

"_I'll… figure it out."  
_

"_This kind of life suits me fine. I can do my art practically whenever I want, hmm. But you? You probably had dumb plans of raising a family or something like that. You can't have that anymore."_

"_I haven't wanted kids for years."  
_

"_That's a lie, hmm. That's a freakin' lie!"  
_

"_Have you ever thought about having kids?"_

"_What the hell, yeah, no. Kids are deadweights."  
_

"_That's an awful thing to say."_

"_I can't be one of those crazy idiots who want as many kids as they have fingers, hmm. And don't tell me you're like that. I don't want to dream of dozens of Ootowari kids tonight."_

"_I can't."  
_

"_Hell, yeah, you can't. You're like what, twelve, hmm?"_

_"Fourteen."_

_"Whatever, same difference, hmm. Still too young."_

_"At my age it isn't impossible to bear children, you doofus."_

_"STOP! Stop right where you are. There is a place where my head does not go, and you are bringing me there, hmm!"  
_

_He heard her sigh. "Besides that's not what I meant by 'I can't'."_

_"Then mind being clearer? You always do this, hmm." Deidara felt a shift in weight on the bed. Suddenly the candle on Saori's side lit up. He groaned and rolled over, about to demand she put out the fire. "Hey, hey, I didn't say I'd have a kid with you, hmm!" Saori glared at him over her exposed shoulder._

_"Deidara, you are going to be only the second person to know this about me." _

_"Know what about you? That you try to get banged up by good-looking strangers, hmm?" For someone outwardly comfortable with his sexuality, he felt extremely uncomfortable when Saori removed her shirt. His annoyed face moved down to her bare back. What he saw took the breath away from his lungs. "That infection, I know it, hmm. It's a common long-term reaction to a poison they use in Iwa, hmm. Two-three years, four tops, you've had it. Why the hell didn't you get help?" Deidara knew Iwa we. She had had the scars and purplish uneven skin for a little over two years now, a gift she had received the first year she was a genin at the age of twelve years. It was the year Toyotomi got her on early graduation in order to join his team._

_"I couldn't support my team from a hospital bed. They needed me." She omitted the part that Toyotomi needed her to make his team appear strong, and that she hadn't been hurt on a perilous mission, but on a routine exercise gone wrong._

_"Did they use something new on you? Usually these things have time limits, yeah."_

_Saori hesitated to answer, favoring watching Deidara fish for something out of his bag. Whatever it was, he did not find it. "Do me a favor? Don't tell anyone about this."_

_Deidara quickly glanced up and saw her despair. In that moment, he knew it was bad. "What did the nurses say about this?"_

* * *

_SORA HAD ONLY BEEN on a few missions when Mikaiyo announced a break, so to speak. She did not elaborate, leaving Toyotomi to explain it to his younger teammates. "Every year, Iwa has a genin away camp. Its objective is to enhance and test our skills. If we fail, we go back to the academy, as a whole cell. If you fail, Sora, I fail. I don't do failure." She understood his underlying message well. "Kaino, I don't think your money is going to bail you out of this one. This test of sorts has been tradition. Every Iwa ninja has one through this camp more than once, never failing."_

_Kaino scoffed delicately. "Money can buy everything."_

_"Maybe in a soft village like Konoha, but not here. I won't take any failure on your part either. Even if you're half-dead, Kaino." In the end, Toyotomi's words remained true. Kaino was required to go but by arrangement, Toyotomi was protect him or he and Mikaiyo would have to answer to the Tsuchikage. The title of Tsuchikage was on the line for the fifteen year old boy. They each packed up their belongings the night prior, Kaino a little too much. It would be his first night not in a bed. Sora closed the door of her borrowed apartment softly, not knowing her life would change dramatically the next time she walked through that door._

_Toyotomi automatically led his juniors, this trip being the fifth one he made - even though he was formally listed as a two-man cell with Mikaiyo, the Board of Advisors dictated he should attend the camp each year he was a genin to pressure him into getting a proper cell assembled, which was one of the reasons he pulled Sora out from the academy early. "We'll be separated into different genin camps," Toyotomi said midway through the hike up Iwa's northern mountains. "There's usually three or four genin cells per camp. With luck, we won't get any idiots in our camp. I don't know the sequence of events, but you can bet your life there will be at least two camp ambushes. At the end we'll be a moving unit and attack other genin camps; they will try to ambush us as well. During this event, we can switch genin camps, so don't let any of the others in our camp know too much about us. Other genin teams will trade inside information to gain trust and be accepted into rival camps. I don't do teaming up. Once the last event starts, we're breaking off from all the genin camps. We're going solo."_

_The trio arrived at the base camp in short breaths, their thighs starting to feel the burn. "Ootowari, you're camp two," barked a chuunin, surrounded by genin of varying ages._

_"Yo, Ootowari! Keep an eye over your shoulder - we'll be 'ounding for you!" jeered a group of rowdy-looking chuunin. Toyotomi only gave them a dark glower of hatred. His sleeve scrunched up into his hand, his knuckles turning white. Kano regarded them disdainfully, because they seemed uncivilized. Sora watched them warily from the corner of her eye. They smelled heavily of trouble. Later she would know just how much trouble they would cause._

_"Let us attend this second camp," said Kaino, in a rare moment in which he did not think of himself but of someone else. Toyotomi felt his body become rigid with each passing moment he kept his red eyes trained on the group which continued to make obscene gestures in mockery of him. Kaino reached to push Toyotomi's gaze away but Sora stopped him and used her own. Kaino withdrew, understanding her purpose. It would be of no shock if Toyotomi hit anybody who shoved him, and damage was something Kaino could not suffer if Toyotomi wanted to avoid meeting the Tsuchikage and Kaino's parents later. Gently, Sora placed her fingertips between his shoulder blades and gave him a light push. He whipped around to face her violently, and she inwardly cringed, waiting for what was sure to be painful. After a moment, she opened her eye, and caught Toyotomi turning away, his knuckles, so near to her cheek, losing altitude. Kaino let free the breath he had not known he had been withholding. Toyotomi stalked away, a dark little cloud following. The one incident already foretold that this trip would be much more different than all the others Toyotomi had endured._

_"Alright! We got the Ootowari this year!" some male genin cheered enthusiastically. Most girls trained their eyes on the short blonde standing behind Toyotomi, otherwise known as Watanabe Kaino._

_"Kaino-kuuuuuun!" squealed one of the girls, who launched to her feet to greet him personally. "How are you? I'm cooking something, just for you." Sora had a deadpan look on her face. It was amazing what some girls would do to marry into wealth._

_"What're you waiting for? Go pitch the tent. It isn't going to pitch itself!" snapped Toyotomi. Behind his back, Sora shot him a mean look. She was frankly getting tired of them both. She dumped her light backpack - as well as some of Kaino's multiple pieces of luggage which Sora and Toyotomi had divided between each other - onto the ground, looking for their tent and setting it up when it was found. The light blue purity of the sky quickly fell like an apple from a tree. Most of the male genin were doing this and that to make the camp livable, under Toyotomi's command. It was only natural that Toyotomi became their undisputed leader. The boys felt belittled by his extensive experience over them and the girls had no interest in taking leadership, still far from being properly hardened female Iwa chuunin. Kaino as per usual entertained the opposite sex with anecdotes of his rich life that were actually of no interest; his listeners pretended it was anyways, hoping to win his favor and from there gain access to the Watanabe gold reserves. It would appear that the females had lost hope with tapping into the Ootowari fortune, and they could not be blamed. It became obvious that Ootowari Toyotomi sought usefulness out of a bride as opposed to beauty or flattery. "Sora!" She jolted back to the present at the sound of Toyotomi's annoyed voice. She exited the tent where she had lain and walked to him; he stood over two boys, who were trying to start a fire with just sticks, as flint was not permitted into the camps. Toyotomi met her questioning glance and pointed to the dug pit and sticks. Without warning, she drew in her breath._

_"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" The two boys scrambled to get out of the way of the angry flames that hungered for flesh._

_"Some warning!" yelled one of the two victims. "I swear, she's out to kill us. She shouldn't be here!"_

_"Well if she kills you, then I'll be left with the more useful lot," sneered Toyotomi. He nodded his head towards their tent, signifying Sora was permitted to return to the tent. "Get ready for an ambush. My bets are that of them is tonight, considering just which chuunin are running this operation," he said to the others. Some boys nodded, gathering their ninja equipment. Sora went back to lie on her blanket, listening to the quiet pounding of her heart._

_At around midnight, the camp was preparing to eat a late dinner. They planned on eating after the ambush, but it had yet to occur. Toyotomi was becoming increasingly doubted. Annoyed, he and Sora wolfed down the portions handed to them by Yuuka, one of the girls and the camp's only medic-in-training, neither intending on being ambushed midway through eating dinner. To pass the time as the three genin teams anxiously waited for the ambush, Yuuka and the other girl in the camp decided to play a game of questions. Sora absently wondered if the other genin camps did the same strange things. "Okay, okay!" the overly girlish one piped up "I've got a good question. If you had just one person you could say goodbye to, and, like, you're about to die, who would it be and why? For me, it'd be Kaino because..." She burst into a fit of giggles. Kaino seemed quite pleased with himself. The boy to Kaino's left said his dog, because his dog was the best thing that ever happened to him._

_"Well, my parents are very important, you know. If I ought to choose, I would pick my mother. After all, she gave my looks and all of my other talents. Where would I be without her? Aside from being terrified of my own ugliness," Kaino responded._

_"You're so thoughtful, Kaino!" the first girl squealed. "And you, Toyotomi-kun?"_

_She didn't quite understand why, but Sora felt her heart banging against her chest. Was that Toyotomi who she felt staring at her? She couldn't tell, and she didn't dare to look. After an irritably long silence, Toyotomi answered, "My mother. I owe her a lot. Too much."_

_"Oh, you two! Both so thoughtful!" Kaino frowned, not quite appreciating the recycled compliment. Sora desperately hoped she did not let out a big sigh of disappointment as she felt she had. She felt almost like a deflated balloon. Quickly, she muttered, "Mikaiyo. She's the closest thing I've had to a parent... ever, actually." And so the interrogation continued._

_"What's your dream?" Yuuka asked. The female to her left glanced at Kaino and somehow deeply blushed into another fit of giggles. The next guy said to not be a ninja. Kaino said he needed none because he could anything he wanted at any time he wanted it. Toyotomi took a deep breath, then settled for an answer._

_"When I am Tsuchikage, I will change Iwagakure so that girls don't giggle like idiots, boys know how to start fires with just two pieces of wood, and... oh, right, so there won't be any more of these stupid questions. Iwa's getting too soft like Konoha."_

_"O...K... Good, ahm, ambition, I guess. You, Sora?"_

_Sora closed her eyes. She knew her dreams well and could recite them by heart. "I want to be part of a real family. Not a husband, not kids, not that kind of family, but a real father, a real mother. An older brother and an older sister. A little sister, too. I want to go home after a long day and go on my tiptoes to kiss my brother on his cheek, bend down to hug my father while he's sitting down and reading the paper, play with my little sister and hone her shuriken skills when she's old enough, and help my older sister and mother cook dinner. And after all of this, I want to leave this life peacefully. I don't want to be forgotten. I don't need to be famous, but I just want, years from now, someone to remember I once existed, that I once walked this earth." She opened her bright gold eyes to see Yuuka's lost appearance and Toyotomi giving her a distant look. There was a quiet still. Kaino thought how desolate the lives of the less rich working class were to have such simple dreams._

_Then chaos erupted._

_There was a sudden barrage of shuriken and kunai, and a few annoying scrapes followed. Toyotomi snapped out of his trance and barked orders. It was the first survival test, the ambush. "Sora, disarm them! I have to make sure Kaino doesn't get hurt," he ordered. Sora nodded, proud that he had chosen her,_ trusted _her to lead their counterattack in his place. Frankly, she wished genin camp wasn't a requirement so that Kaino wouldn't have to come and get his life endangered. The two genin teams and Sora quickly sent the ambushers running without any serious injuries. Had her bloated pride not clouded her judgment, she would have realized the ambushers ran too easily. Yuuka treated the resulting wounds the best her very limited training could allow. Sora had just finished taping a bandage to a forearm scratch when Toyotomi walked up. "Well, I'm definitely surprised you got away with only a scratch."_

_Sora looked up as Toyotomi unrolled some more bandage to tightly seal the scratch from infection. "Yeah, I guess I am, too." There was a small little smile on his face as he tightened the cloth around her left forearm. She had delivered better than he had expected her to and was firmly satisfied that he had chosen her to be on his team. The wait for her had been worth it, he deemed._

_"C'mon," he replied when he was done, walking away from the camp. Sora glanced at their camp mates, all of which were busy either bandaging themselves or retelling their feats in exaggerated forms. "Let's go! Some of these chuunin are downright nasty and come back for second rounds though they're not supposed to," Toyotomi urged. In short, he decided he'd like to make routine rounds with her above anybody else. A smile lighted her face again as she jogged to catch up to him. It grew intensely quiet except for the sound of lively crickets, one of the rare life forms in this sparse forest high on the mountains north of Iwagakure. A small yawn escaped her lips. "Tired?" he smirked._

_"Yeah, kind of. All that talking makes me sleepy," her breath hitched when she felt his grip on her forearm._

_"Don't fail on me, okay?" he said. She nodded wearily._

_"I won't, I won't."_

_"Good. I need strong members who stay strong, not strong members who grow weak."_

_"Alrighty, Mr. Captain."_

_"You got that right," he chuckled a little. "By the way...," he started, nudging Sora to turn to him. _

_"Yeah?" she asked quietly, noting she was getting a bit taller, now able to see a bit over Toyotomi's shoulder. He continued to say something, none of which she heard. "Toyotomi!" Completely on a whim, she threw him to the ground, but didn't most fast enough._

_"What the hell?" Toyotomi snapped angrily, coughing the dirt out of his lungs. Sora was halfway to the ground. He stood up, dusting his pants. "Are you crazy...?" He stared at the projectiles sticking out from her back. The color drained from his face before Sora collapsed._

_Toyotomi was sure he had never moved faster in his life. He caught Sora before she hit the ground and nearly burst his chakra network, shoving an immense amount of chakra to his feet. He deftly avoided all impediments on his way back to camp. Once there, he roared, "YUUKA!" and almost shocked the life out of the poor medic. She scrambled to her feet._

_"Y-yes?"_

_"Sora needs medical attention! Now!" he ordered, heading into his team's tent. "Get out!" Kaino, who was inside, blinked in confusion. "Get. _out._" Kaino quickly got out of the way as Toyotomi set Sora on his sleeping mat. "What do I have to do?" he asked Yuuka._

_"Um, um, get her into a sitting position, I guess -" _

_"Don't guess!"  
_

_"Okay, okay! I've never used medical ninjutsu on human subjects before, I mean, I could hurt her instead..."_

_"I don't care, do it! Can't you tell? There's poison!" Yuuka's face paled._

_"Has she been walking?"_

_"No, not since we were attacked. Why?"_

_"The speed at which the poison disperses depends on the poison, but any movement would have helped spread it."_

_"Well make sure it doesn't! Hurry up, she's losing too much blood!" Yuuka reached for Sora's shirt, then glanced back up. "What?"_

_"I'm going to have to see her back."  
_

_"And?" Yuuka decided further conversation was useless and that Toyotomi wouldn't let Sora out of his sight, whether she was naked or not. She quickly did away with the clothes. The blood - oh, the blood! Sora's darkened back was painted in every which way with the glistening redness of blood. Yuuka's instincts kicked in; stop the bleeding, or she'll die, stop the bleeding, stop the bleeding. Her hands flickered with green light. The blood streaming outward began to slow, and the severity of the wounds was surfacing. Toyotomi, who stood guard at the tent entrance, sensed Yuuka's sudden hesitation. "What's wrong?"_

_"It... doesn't look good."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I... panicked - there was so much blood, I didn't know if we had any proper blood donors here, so I forgot -" she paused. She saw the fear instilled in him, a fear he probably didn't even know existed within him. His eyes were trained on the light purple tinge of the wounds, on the light pink outline of the freshly sealed skin. "I guess I should have cleaned it first, but there was so much blood -"_

_"Do not tell me you made a mistake," he hissed._

_"She'll be okay - for now - but she needs better medical attention! I don't know how to make antidotes, but she needs one, before the poison really spreads!"_

_"I'll take her. I'll pull out of the camp and take her back to the village."_

_"But if you pull out, you'll..." He'd risk going back to the academy. He did not say anything, not even to ask if temporary treatment was done, and reached to pick Sora up and run her to the village as quickly as possible. However, Sora seemed to have a different idea. She clutched his outstretched arm, shakily getting to her feet._

_"No," Sora hoarsely whispered._

_"Are you crazy? You heard Yuuka, you need medical attention!"_

_"No," she repeated, glaring at hm. "I told you I wouldn't be strong and then grow weak." Toyotomi bit his lip. His words usually didn't come back to bite him like this. He wanted to show off and boast of a strong team, but her life could be on the line. Then again, Yuuka did say something about being okay at the moment. "Look. They don't know what happened. I can still be the strong team member you sought in me. I won't let you down." Yuuka sensed the defeat in Toyotomi's posture._

_"Toyotomi, you can't let her stay! She needs the antidote!"  
_

_"Does she need it now?" he asked._

_"Well, not really, she just can't move, but -"_

_"Sora, don't fail me. I do not want to know I made a dumb mistake awhile from now," he interrupted, looking intensely at Sora. She smiled weakly._

_"I won't," she replied. Barely satisfied, Toyotomi put her to rest as Yuuka left concerned and annoyed. He could not sleep that night, but lied beside Sora as she slumbered throughout the night, monitoring her vital signs. Watching her sleep brought him just a little peace of mind. _

_Despite Yuuka's warnings, Sora hardly sat still for the duration of the camp, always in action when defense was needed. She filled in Toyotomi's place when he himself could not. Occasionally she experienced intense back pains that ate at her waning strength, but she bit down all forms of weakness. She would not let him down. She could not. At the end of the week, the conclusion of the genin away camp, Sora more than anything wanted to flop down on a cushy bed, quell the cries of her backside, and fall into a deep slumber forever. Toyotomi would not have it, however, shoving her towards the hospital to give her back the professional medical care they had denied it. He forced the staff to take her in first and paid the bill for the check-up. The wounds had healed but left nasty purple marks on her skin. Toyotomi had not seen the wounds since Yuuka's treatment, and therefore did not understand the severity of her state and his mistake. It was not entirely his to own the blame, but Sora, knowing him was sure he would kick himself for it anyways. She chose not to breathe a word of the awful marks which marred her back and left it roughened in fear he would pull out of the camp and force her back to the village. Now she would regret it. The nurse who attended to her - it had been considered a minor injury and by all means should have been - was astonished that Sora had not come back immediately after the attack. Fear gripped every part of her bruised, sore body. It sounded pretty bad. And it was. "What's the verdict?" Sora asked shakily._

_The nurse did not look like she brought good news. She sighed, "You really should have come back immediately. Not going back to the academy was not worth this." She is wrong, Sora silently argued. She saved her team's pride, even made Toyotomi proud. Some scars could not possibly compare! But only if it were just some scars. "This poison is widely used by us Iwa ninja. Somebody in your camp should have known you could not stay. It's relatively harmless if it receives immediate treatment and the antidote, but you've seen action after getting these injuries. This poison spreads quickly with motion and is efficient in breaking down organs. That's why we use it."_

_"But why are you telling me all this? What does it mean?"  
_

_"It means the antidote won't work on you now. I can give you a healing salve to stagnate the effects and deterioration, but it won't get rid of the poison. I had hoped maybe you could get a dialysis, but it's too late, even for that. It's fled your circulatory system and it's in the very cells of your organs."_

_"Salve? If you can't get rid of it, then..."_

* * *

_DEIDARA WAS NOT ONE to sit still and be dumbfounded. His life no longer had room for sadness and tragedy. "Well where's the salve, hmm? Keep putting it on and you might luck out."_

_"I... I haven't really put it on."_

_"You crazy, hmm?"_

_"I don't know if you've noticed but I can't reach my back."_

_"You should have asked Mikaiyo to do it, or that Yuuka girl, hmm!"_

_"They didn't know that I couldn't be saved. I made sure no one but the nurse and I knew. In time the Tsuchikage will know, but I didn't want to be stared at because I' m short on hours. I also didn't want Toyotomi to know... that I let him down." It took much restraint for Deidara not to make a insulting comment about the stupidity of her actions just to satisfy an Ootowari._

_"Give me the salve anyways, hmm. It'd still help. This must be hurting like a bitch with all teh running we've been doing, hmm!"_

_She rummaged her bag for the blue pastel bottle. Sadness dwelled deeper in her heart, knowing the salve wasn't going to save her. He unscrewed the cap and spread the cream on her back. "I was wrong about you. You're a better person that I thought you were."  
_

_"Hey, hey, no more of this mushy stuff. I run on testosterone, not estrogen, hmm."_

_"Yeah, yeah, okay."_

* * *

_IN IWAGAKURE LIFE WENT on as usual for jounin Mikaiyo and her chuunin disciple, Toyotomi. With Sora or Saori now gone, there was no need to keep team 18, nor Kaino, whose parents were infuriated that their baby had been in such close contact with a "missing-nin." Knowing Toyotomi yearned to know, and knowing it would be unwise for Toyotomi to try to find out for himself, Mikaiyo used her sources inside the intricacies of the underground agency - high-ranking recon shinobi - to kepe tabs on information about Saori - where she was, was she okay, what she was doing, had Iwa ninja finally killed her._

_Each time she met with her student she brought no news, which both agreed was better than bad news. The three other three escaped inmates never were killed, they were informed by the intelligence provided by recon teams. Mikaiyo knew Deidara and Sasori's stealth skills were not to be doubted for a second, so it was of no surprise to her that the recon teams could not find the two. Hopefully, Saori had fallen in their favor, Mikaiyo found herself thinking, because if Saori tried to run from the two Akatsuki, she would be completely overpowered._

_His sore muscles sighed in relief, warmed by the heat of the water as Toyotomi ducked into the shower. Dissatisfied, he twisted the showerhead. That was much better. He scrubbed every particle of dirt he could from his now whitened body. After a good while, he reluctantly shut the water off, grabbing two freshly washed, fluffy towels off its shelf; one went on his soaked hair, the other around his waist. He instinctively went to the safe hidden in the floor of his closet. His mother made him keep things of monetary value in there, but he kept those of sentimental value. The lid eased open. He dug through the other items, which he considered junk. There was a little red velvet box at the bottom, safely wrapped in an old shirt. It used to house a large diamond necklace his mother owned and passed to him to give to his fiancée - in short, she told him to find one soon and win her over through lavish gifts. He had dumped the necklace in some cheap box so as to put the velvet box to better use. He gently closed the lid of his safe and turned the dial. It clicked, locked._

_He eased the lid of the velvet box open with its gold detailing sparkling in the morning sun. Its latest tenant was far less superior in terms of monetary value and beauty, but in terms of sentimental value, it was by far superior. It was one of the most treasured things he owned: Saori's necklace. It scarcely left her neck when she was in Iwagakure and later during the days of her imprisonment she told him it was a memento of her clan, that of the Ookamika Clan. That, along with the choker she believed to have belonged to Naomi, her mother, and her gold belt were the only things that anchored her to her past. He knew it hadn't been hard for her to give it to him, but he still cherished it nonetheless. He didn't have any photos or videos of the former team 18, no letters from Saori - nothing tangible save for this one necklace that hardly smelled of her. Now he regretted so deeply that he hadn't bonded with his former teammates, never taken any photographs. Heck, now in his solitude he even missed Kaino, whose extensive wealth and his full capability to access it always were helpful. Inside, he was hitting himself. He should have never taken the shortcut, never should have help Saori escaped. He should have fought the Tsuchikage and the Board of Advisors until they relented and cleared Saori's name, be the man that his father failed to be. Fight for what he wanted. But now she was gone, labeled guilty, and at long last he realized how much he really missed her._

* * *

THE MOUNTAINS WERE HARDLY of the size to be called mountains and were a long walk away - after all, had there ever been naturally forming mountains near the sea? But the Genyou Senshi was on a two-month mission to throw Akatsuki off of the Ookamika Clan. Saori was left with instructions to practice the Mind's Eye on her own. It seemed the Genyou Senshi had no faith in her disciple's ability to achieve the Third State on her own. Saori was just glad to be temporarily free of the Genyou Senshi's intimidating nature. In search of peace, Kani directed Saori to this shrinking mountain range where pits of water boiled in sharp contrast to the cold environment due to continuous exothermic reactions in the mountain core. The red messenger bag she had bought as a fourteen year old freshly-made missing-nin beat heavily against the gray cloth of her trousers as she hiked, filled with blank rolls of paper, ink sticks, and inkwells, along with a peculiar assortment of ninja tools to sharpen her basic ninja skills which seemed to have grown fuzzy in the river.

Puffs of steam rose to meet her as she walked by, her head beginning to become dizzy due to the altitude. Retracing her steps, Saori chose an encampment nearby a steaming pool a little farther down from where she had hiked. Heavy beige woven cloths draped over jutting rocks, creating a far from cozy little nook that encased its dweller with massive columns of gray rock walls. Never quite having lost a need for seeming cleanliness, Saori bucketed hot water and threw it about the nook, using fire jutsu to dry it out. A flat rock was located; upon its smooth surface she wrote her letters on her black scrolls.

Tiredly, she rested her fingers and stowed the inkwell away. There was no use in procrastinating - she'd come here to face her newfound fear of water. Saori hadn't always been like this. As Ootowari Sora, she had her fears but nothing had kept her so rigid as an endless pool of water. As the Ookamika Saori who was Deidara's sidekick, all fear - save for loneliness - had been banished by his carefree and wild lifestyle. Saori of then and Sora had so greatly contrasted from the Saori of now; the red-haired girl stared at her worn hands and wondered who she was now. She was not bold, hardworking, or strong like Ootowari Sora, neither was she carefree, life-loving, and mischievous like Ookamika Saori, D-Ranked missing-nin of Iwa. She was neither of them now.

She reached the edge of the pool, unable to stared down at its seemingly endless bottom. Deidara wouldn't have even need to look. He would have jumped in without any pants on, knowing him. Her now toes briefly graced the quiet glass, immediately withdrawing upon contact. In Kani's presence, it had been easy deceiving the world in pretense of a minor fear. Here, it was just the truth and her, and it wasn't so easy lying to herself. "Hydrophobic, are you?" The sudden sound of the aged voice caught her completely unawares. Her feet left the safety of dry ground into the intense heat of the water. She did not scream. She dared to open her eyes and give the speaker an once-over.

Sputtering water, Saori responded, "No."

"It seemed so to me," chuckled an old man, who leaned heavily on a smooth, weathered cane, worn by usage and the passage of time. He was bald, covered in wrinkles and sagging skin. He wore a goldenrod undershirt, loose for easy movement, covered by a long red cloth draped neatly over his left shoulder. Saori stared at him awkwardly. She had never seen a living person dress that way, but she had seen it in the Ookamika library, in a copied portion of Jigoku's journal, in which he kept detailed records. She was positive that kind of clothing was worn back in the day, before the clan was created, in the days where there were no shinobi in the deep south, in the old civilization in which the Ookamika hailed from. Some say old habits die hard.

"I just don't like it when there seems to be no bottom."

"If it is as you say, then it is so. Do you bear a name, child?"

She went on automatic, not even aware of her deception, "My name is Ootonami Sasayaku."

"I see. Where have you strayed from? Iwagakure was a bit away last time I knew."

"How do you know about my relation to Iwagakure?"

"A simple hypothesis. No harm was meant. A nice letter you wrote. I'm sure that Toyotomi boy would appreciate it."

"Hey! You're not supposed to read it!"

The old man lightly chuckled. "I won't tell anyone, Sasayaku."

"I come from Takigakure," she said without missing a beat. When did lying get so easy, and to a poor old man of all people? "Toyotomi is my childhood friend." Well, that was sort of true at least.

"Ahh," the old man sighed. "Coming from the Waterfall village, I would not think you would fear bottomless water."

"But that's exactly why - I took a bad fall." That was true too.

"No harm meant, no harm meant. You know, I have a daughter who looks just like you." He chuckled again, "Or some may say it is you who looks just like her. Long red hair, tied perpetually in a ponytail. Of course, she died a piece of her hair orange like my hair once was. It is a tradition we had in Tsukuni. She, too, had gold eyes of a fox, always looking one way but telling another, and a sharp tongue. But she was taller, much taller. It seems we Tsukuni folk are biologically taller to begin with. She went to fight in the war. The others have left but I will still wait for my dear daughter to come home." Tsukuni! Saori supposed it was the name of the old civilization, which had always bore no name.

"If you come from Tsukuni, then your daughter must be well over eighty years old. And you'd be over one hundred. Why is she even fighting? She's too old to be fighting this war."

"What do you speak of, Sasayaku? My daughter is twenty-seven this year."

"That's… that's not possible."

"Are you confused, Sasayaku? It is the First Great Ninja War. Our clan leader, Jigoku, is fighting out there with my daughter." Saori frowned. It was the Fourth Great Ninja War; the first occurred almost eighty years ago, when the Ookamika Clan formed. The only Tsukuni survivors would have been children themselves back then. Could the old man be experiencing Alzheimer's? It seemed a lot more like denial. He had said he was still waiting for his daughter to come back, and if she fought in the first war... she probably died in it.

"Yes, I'm confused - tired. I apologize," she replied, knowing his mind would not be altered.

"It's alright, no harm was meant, no harm was meant. This Mind's Eye you wrote to this boy about... my daughter has it too. She can achieve Fifth State, but I hope she never will have to."

"Fifth State? It's possible?"

He chuckled again. "Why, of course. She is the only one who can achieve it. But, you are in luck today, for I carry the secret to her success."

"Will you tell me?"

"Hehe, if I had not known better, I would have thought you to be my granddaughter. Here it is; you must use all of your chakra in the Fourth State, so that you have absolutely none left. Near death state! But you must also be ready to leave this place without Earthly attachments. No regrets. No Earthly longings. Then you can tap its fearsome power." Saori sank bank into the water. Could she leave her life behind peacefully? She doubted this. She never got to say all those things to Deidara, nor watch Tensai grow old, teach him some of her tricks, nor find her mother and confront her for leaving when Saori was so young. Months ago, when she fell, she had been ready. Now with what she considered a second life, for some reason she wasn't quite ready to leave it again. But then again, she was sixteen now and she hadn't been consistent with the salve. She wouldn't have long to live anyways and if she went without trying to achieve the Fifth State, she would never rest in peace when she went. "Lots of thinking, have you? Death is such a sad topic. Tell me, what is this sickness you write about? Your writing spoke to me of sadness."

Saori mumbled that it was nothing, sinking further into the water.

_"Salve? If you can't get rid of the poison, doesn't that mean..."_

_"Unfortunately, ...yes. It won't happen until some time from now. All at once, your organs will breakdown. It will be quick."_

_Sora was quiet for the longest period of time, silently despairing. She had just begun enjoying life, looking forward to the future. "How long do I have?"_

_"At most, five or six years."_


	12. Confront Truths

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or its characters. However, Ookamika Saori and other fan made characters were created by me as is the non-canon plot.

**Author's Note:** Heeeeeyyy! I really did not think I'd take this long... sorry. I think the chapter ended up being something like 30 written pages, but for some reason is still shorter than the last by some 600-700 words. This one's completely in flashback, I'm sorry for you who detest reading in italics. In other news, **I have achieved 200 written pages**! That's right... I finally finished using the notebook with this story :D I've moved on to my next one with chapter 12 already... excited! It might be awhile yet before I can write chapter 12 though. This is only the second time I have ever completed a notebook writing a story. The first time was with the story of the very first version of Saori, otherwise known as Saisuki, a very ultra-sue. But that's behind us and I hope you don't think Saori is much of a sue. I really, really hope so as I worked extremely diligently to make sure she was not.

Ooh, before I forget, **please read this:** I am doing a lengthy oneshot for the end of _Deception_ for a class at school. Anybody have an idea for a cover? I'm drawing a blank on this one, for once! None of you usually review, but if you can suggest something, anything, that would be helpful. I'd really like to have this story done by the time I have to present my oneshot project to my class so I can feature it was part of my presentation, but realistically, I don't think it's possible, as the quarter is already half gone and we haven't even yet reached the climax, when Saori falls.

Please, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Eleven** Confront Truths

"_I'M WORRIED," SAID SAKURA. For once , Sasori was perplexed as to why she was concerned, if it was the child or something else. "Deidara and Saori aren't mature enough to be on their own. For all we know, Deidara probably has killed her!"_

"_He would not do that, trust me," Sasori replied calmly. "Let's just focus on getting information. We'll get back to them sooner." But Saori and Deidara were far from getting along. Once Saori had gotten out of the inn and Deidara had appropriated the owner's safe, Deidara blew the whole joint into smithereens._

"_What the hell did you do that for?" Saori snapped at Deidara, who stood in glee of his work._

"_The guy had it coming. Making me pay – you have to be out of your mind, hmm!"_

"_But there were other people in there!"_

"_So?" He saw no wrong in his actions, none whatsoever, leaving Saori thoroughly disgusted. She fully comprehended that he was a S-Rank missing-nin, an Akatsuki of all people, but she could not take that he would be so inhumane. That's what all Akatsuki are, inhumane, but she could not take that someone she thought of as her best friend would be so heartless. _Will I be like that one day?

"_You know, Toyotomi wouldn't have done that." The moment the words left her lips, she knew she should not have said it. She knew she crossed a line but she did not know how hard it would be to get back on other side. Deidara's blue eyes darkened in anger and unbeknownst to him, his hands became tightly wound in fists. Everybody and their mothers like the guy! Deidara hated all Ootowari but he was beginning to hate Toyotomi more than Kurotsuchi, an impressive feat by far. Saori kept on pushing him with her idolization - idolization he once thought was completely for him. He was not too keen on having to share or who he had to share it with. Idolization with Sasori, maybe he could handle. Sasori was an impressive ninja, after all. Toyotomi was nothing but an irritable entity._

"_Shut up about your Ootowari crap, Ookamika. You're a rogue now – no amount of rambling or fantasizing about Toyotomi will ever bring you back to him, so freakin' get over it, hmm!" As the naturally submissive type, by all means she would have backed off in a normal situation. But she did not. She could not._

"_You can hate Iwagakure all you want, you can hate the Ootowari family all you want, but one day, I'll go back home. He gave his family heirloom as a promise he'd make sure I could come back, and unlike I am with you, I fully trust him. He will bring me home, I swear!"_

"_You're so fucking blind, hmm. I almost feel bad for you. I know what it's like, to trust someone so much, but you'll only hit yourself later for it, if it doesn't kill you first. I had a best friend too. I thought she would follow me everywhere I went, hmm." He awkwardly stopped. "Then she died on me. So I left." He abruptly lengthened his stride so that Saori's shorter stride could not keep up with him._

"_Hey!" Saori called. "Look, I'm sorry."_

"_Yeah, yeah. Let's just keep going."_

"_Do you want to stop there and get some breakfast?"_

"_Not if I have to fricken pay again." She inwardly sighed._

"_Okay, you pick what to eat, I'll distract the owner." She did not see it, but Deidara was grinning as they strolled in. "Good morning!" Saori headed straight for the checkout line, where the only employee stood behind the aging wood._

"_Awfully cheery, aren't cha?" mumbled the man. For a moment Saori thought she was Ootowari Sora again._

"_Isn't there good reason to be happy? There's nothing wrong with waking up on the right side of the bed for once."_

"_Not when there's a war going on."_

"_I try to forget that."_

"_How can you? Times are so rough, a man like me can hardly get by. The only good force in this stinkin' place fell to the ground. We have no hope." Saori became rigid. They were finally getting somewhere, getting closer to the elephant in the room. She glanced back at Deidara, who drew closer to them. If the only "good force" fell to the ground, it could only mean one thing. Deidara dumped some cash on to the counter and pulled Saori away. When out of earshot, Saori said to him, "I think you overpaid." He had more than just paid for their food, but left generous change._

_To this, Deidara spat, "You shut the hell up."_

_And she smiled._

* * *

"_I'M JUST GOING TO ask someone. It is pointless to hope someone will just tell us the situation when we're completely capable of asking ourselves," snapped Sasori. He never was the patient type and he didn't intend to start being patient now. Sakura grumbled, quite displeased._

"_We're going to raise suspicion if we ask something like that. Look – everybody here knows. They're going to wonder what rock we've been living under," she argued._

"_And so? I'll kill them if they bother us."_

"_You're a monster, Sasori!" She withdrew. She probably hurt what little feelings he had left. "Why don't we ask something that might indirectly get us an answer? Like, why is everybody so hopeless? It's suspicious but we can pretend to be overly optimistic or idealistic." He didn't respond in words to her but abruptly turned into an empty clothing store. We wanted to mention how stupid her questions sounded as it didn't seem she realized this herself, but he did not want a fight lest they say things they would regret. Not that she already had._

"_Welcome! What a pleasure it is to host two fine young adults!" Sakura chuckled upon seeing Sasori cringe a little._

"_Thank you for your gracious welcome. It's nice to see a ray of sunshine every now and then."_

"_Why, if I may return you the favor, darling! What might I present such a lovely young lady today?" Sasori's jaw tightened but Sakura completely missed it. Her delicate, slender, pale pink fingers brushed over the clothing on display, making note of the red-slashed price tags. They were pretty steep. "You, sir? What would you prefer to view?" the attendant asked Sasori._

"_How about you leave my girlfriend –"_

"_And okay!" Sakura nervously laughed, deftly forcing the heat form her cheeks. He had never – well, she had never been called anyone's girlfriend before and she had not really thought of their relationship that way until now, even though she had his child within her. "I always wondered, you know – why is everyone so… void of hope?" It could not be confirmed if the attendant's odd expression was the cause of Sasori's lethal glare, Sakura's less than smooth cover up, or her certainly odd question._

"_Not everyone can be optimistic," the attendant responded._

"_But why? Is it really that hard?" Sakura pushed. They were almost at the answer; she could taste it on her lips._

"_The biggest opposition to the Akatsuki was crushed. Flattened! Who can _really _be optimistic?"_

_The red blouse in Sakura's hands fell to the ground, the wooden hanger vibrating from the force of the impact. No time for pretense. Sasori closed his brilliant brown eyes. "What did you say?"_

"_Konoha was conquered months ago by the Akatsuki. Didn't you already know? Where have you two been?"_

"_Under a rock, obviously," snapped Sasori. "She –"_

"_You KNEW!" Sakura screamed. "You bastard, you knew and you didn't tell me. I'm going to kill you –" She paused. What good did that do? Her hand lighted with blue chakra. The attendant yelped, dived for the counter, and fumbled about for his phone. Sasori's fingertips were encased with his sticky chakra to defend himself – that is, until he realized he was not the target._

"_You crazy woman!" Sakura's hand neared her stomach but its destination was never reached. Her hand was rigid. Don't you dare harm our kid. Do you hear me?"_

_"How could you do this to me?" she sobbed angrily._

_"I was unsure."_

_"Unsure? You couldn't at least warn me? We might've been able to help, you selfish jerk!"_

_"I did give you a hint. Several, in fact, while we were in Iwa. I know you, Haruno. YOU may think it impossible, but I need very little time to understand someone like you. I was well aware you would want to go to Konoha yourself. If you had you would have died."_

_"Then maybe I should be," she hissed vehemently. "My _friends._ My _family. _And you couldn't help break the news."_

_"How did you expect me to? Tell a pregnant woman with whom I am close that her home is gone?"_

_"It wasn't so hard to be heartless before, why so now?"_

_Sasori's eyes bored into her. "I don't need to answer that question." He strolled over to the counter and pulled the phone from the owner's hands. "Anything else happen?"_

_"T-the Fifth! The lady Fifth and Fifth Kazekage were both assassinated. T-there's a resistance movement, rumor has it. Please, don't hurt me. Take anything, anything you want!"  
_

_"Sakura, let's go. A unit is probably coming thanks to this buffoon." Sakura reluctantly ran with him. she hated it but in her heart she knew Sasori had been correct in his actions. She only wished he had let her down gently instead of letting her get bombed upon with such awful news._ It probably wasn't his intention to find out today. And if he guessed Konoha was gone, he knew when he let me go he was leaving me alone and unprotected, yet he took me back and made me stay. He still is. But it doesn't make sense. Sasori is a heartless criminal. He doesn't protect people. He never even protected Deidara, not before anyways. Why is he even shielding me, before he knocked me up, too? I am his death sentence if the Akatsuki ever find us. Yet he kept me before and he keeps me after. _Sasori was hesitant, but decided to be aggressive and grabbed Sakura's hand. The wood was smooth and soft, even warm. She absently wondered what he would have been like as a human._

_Once they were well out of town, Sasori stopped before a thick tree and stuck an exploding tag to the ground. The blast revealed a neatly dug out space beneath the tree, void of roots. He gently tugged Sakura towards the space, making sure she was safely in and comfortable before climbing in himself. "Suppress your chakra," he murmured, soothingly running his thumb over her hand._

_"The Fifth was like my mother," Sakura whispered. Then, laughing sadly, she added, "I spent more time with her than I did with my biological mother."  
_

_"I know it is painful." As best he could in the cramped space he leaned over and held her for a long time. When he let go, the pursuing shinobi were long gone. Some weeks ago she had done the very same thing for him. He had let her go that time, granted her wish to be free though he knew he was unwise in doing so, and promptly came back for her when he had no reasons to save her. He saved the life of the woman who had killed him and put him in this misery, this non-eternal, imperfect misery. She realize then it was witnessing her compassion repeatedly, even compassion for those who tried to harm her, that had stirred a sliver of feeling, of humanity, in him. Now he was returning the favor, right when she needed him most. "I am enamored with you, Sakura." She blinked profusely at his sudden confession. "And it kills me so. I should abhor you for what you have done but I cannot because you were doing righteously and it is because of my death that I am here. With you." He continued, "I was never happy in the Akatsuki. There I felt empty. The lives I reaped did nothing to relieve me of that feeling."_

_"I almost wish you could hate me," she murmured. Sasori was taken aback. Did _she _still hate him? Right after he admitted his inner thoughts, too! "It's cruel. You shouldn't have any other feelings towards me after all I have done to you."_

_Sasori smiled a little, just faintly, white teeth glistening in the sparse light. Sakura's breathe left her completely. He almost never smiled, maybe once or twice, but when he did the world stopped for her. For a moment there was no war and she could be with Sasori. "You are the only woman to have ever gained my respect. Perhaps that helped transcend my hatred. It is almost frivolous to think that we, the unlikeliest of pairs, can exist yet all others are raging a war out there simply on the basis of hatred."_

_"I hope this war ends soon and when it clears we can still be together. You would stay with me, wouldn't you? With us?"_

_Sasori sighed, chocolate eyes staring at the perceived empty space above Sakura's stomach, knowing under the genjutsu there was a bulge. His bulge. "I would try."  
_

_"Try? Just try?"  
_

_"I more than anything want to be there for our child, but I wonder if I should be. I am not a good person, Sakura. I am corrupted and I cannot be fixed. I can no longer change."_

_She snuggled back into his sun-warmed body. "I know even if I don't ask you to change you will."_

_He smirked into her cherry blossom hair. "And how would you know that, my cherry blossom?"_

_"Because you already have, you wonderful fool."_

* * *

_DEIDARA AND SAORI SOON found the puppet master and the pink-haired wonder after much frantic searching. The looks on their faces were of concern, exhaustion, and oddly, fear. Neither wanted to tell Sakura the bad news. "I already know," she said with a fake smile._

_"Are you okay?" Saori tentatively queried. The fake smile was not fooling anyone._

_"Sasori helped me get past it. I'm fine."_

_"Sasori-danna, hmm?" Deidara repeated with his golden eyebrow raised. "Have you two been a little busy, hmm?" Sakura turned a violent shade of red and stalked off, dragging Sasori with her. "Wow, dragged like a dog, hmm!"_

_"Shut it, brat."  
_

_"Saori, hmm," Deidara chuckled, "I think it's time for phase two of the Let's-Get-Sakura-and-Sasori-together plan."_

_"They're going to kill us, just so you know," Saori whispered back._

_"Not if we're real sneaky about it, hmm. Got an idea, yeah?" Sasori and Sakura kept walking in blissful ignorance, completely oblivious to the lack of their troublemakers' presence behind them. Abruptly Saori laughed and tugged Deidara's sleeve so he would bend down and she could whisper in his ear. The pyromaniac grinned and laughed softly along. "Okay, but we'd better wait. Town is a ways yet, hmm." He trotted back to his Akatsuki partner and his redheaded follower stumbled after him._

_He could not explain it, this grandiose feeling. When he said sit, Saori sat. When he said fetch, she fetched. She hung on his every word; she thought he was a genius and respected his art - treated them as masterpieces, even wanting to learn from him. He had only known this feeling once before, fleetingly, but the woman who had cruelly given him this fleeting taste had snuffed his fire as quickly as she had given it. Saori remained his sole admirer. It was dangerous, considering what happened the last time, but he relished the feeling of at last being respected once more._

_If _it _happened again, he would just do the same thing. Again._

_Much to the troublemakers' chagrin Sasori insisted on avoiding towns at all costs. What with Sakura's emotional explosion earlier, they could bet their lives that the whole region was on alert – not that they wanted to bet their lives or anything, just that they were sure. One look at the odd groups' hair colors and anyone, civilian or soldier, were sure to report them. Deidara ensured Saori their scheme would be worth the wait, as much as he himself hated to wait. Amidst their frustrations they missed the stolen glances between Sasori and Sakura. "You three, stay put. Brat, keep Sakura and Saori protected. I have no qualms if you have to die in order to do so," Sasori commanded, disappearing into the starry night running._

"_When did he start commanding me to protect, hmm?" Deidara mumbled. "It's weird, yeah." He kicked an offending branch away and plopped down on the leaf-littered floor._

"_Maybe he grew an actual heart!" Saori suggested enthusiastically but at the same time with great sarcasm. "Me'n'Sakura-san don't really serve a purpose dead and we'd be more troublesome if we were injured, I guess."_

"_Don't talk like that, hmm!" Deidar snapped darkly, eyes glimmering dangerously. "It isn't true, not anymore, yeah." Sakura quietly observed the two, her hand seemingly stroking air when in fact she was rubbing her rather discomforting bulge. Saori took a hesitant, small step back and from that one movement Deidara seemed ready to blow. But he withheld himself; the restraint was obvious in every toned muscle in his body. He did not want her to be scared of him. He did not want that. He patted the ground aside him and grabbed Saori's head when she obeyed him, pushing it to his shoulder. "Don't be afraid of me, yeah. Not like that, yeah."_

"_I won't stop until you tell me what's bothering you," she murmured._

"_Nothing's bothering me, hmm."_

"_Deidara, I'm not stupid. I still have one functioning eye and the other's still kinda good. Sorta."_

"_I was," Deidara hesitated, his azure orbs wandering around aimlessly. "Bad memory, hmm."_

"_That's such a half-assed answer!"_

"_Saori, watch your mouth!" Sakura yelled. Immediately, she covered her mouth, never having intended to interrupt the conversation about when Saori added color to her language the words just spilled out of Sakura's mouth instinctually. "You're too young to be copying Deidara-san yet."_

"_Don't worry Sakura, hmm. It happens to all my devoted fans, hmm." She was his only._

_Leaves rustled, sending all three on hyper alert, but it was only Sasori coming back. "There were some decent looking deer running around but I did not quite manage to catch them."_

"_That's because you're an unnatural existence. Allow me, the Queen of Stealth." Deidara raised an eyebrow at the title his younger companion had given herself and noted, as she went away, that she _ was _quite stealthy. He wondered how he had not noticed earlier. A gurgling sound later and Saori came back dragging a carcass much bigger than her own body by her side. "Anyone care for venison tonight?"_

"_We don't quite have a choice, do we?" Sakura mused with a smile. Sasori dumped the last of the dry twigs he found in a pile at their center. Nothing could temper the swelling pride Saori felt upon knowing she had been useful to their group, in some way. Rat, horse, tiger._

"_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu)!" With only a trickle of fire she gave them evanescent amber light. On a whim she turned towards Sasori, and, for some odd reason, bore an expression of hope on her face. But Sasori was ruthlessly mutilating the deer into edible chunks. Saori refrained from belching and hid a look of disappointment tainted by sadness. From across the fire Deidara glance at Saori from his peripherals, thinking he was being covert but in fact not at all, not to Sakura. He did not say a word when Saori looked away from Sasori, crestfallen. His lack of action unnerved the pinkette. _He should have gone and comforted her, _Sakura thought._ He's supposed to be her best friend, isn't he? She even said it out loud! What is it with men and their insistence on being distant?_ A tiny voice in the back of her head reminded her that Deidara had never said the same to Saori, and that, in fact, he might not have felt that way at all._

_None of them would believe it, but Sasori was actually the best cook of the lot. For someone unused to taste for twenty years, he had incredibly not lost his touch in the culinary arts. "I'm on watch. You three get some rest," Sasori ordered. _

"_Don't you need rest?" Sakura asked. The concern in her voice made Sasori's heart swell. He could not ever hope to understand the feeling he had whenever she showed him that she did not hate him. IT gave him blissful hope that they were not impossible. It gave him hope for himself, because at last someone truly cared about him. It had been such a long time since he felt anything like that of his family's affections._

"_Don't worry about me, Sa-ku-ra," he teased. His smile was contagious, she admitted, especially because she knew he was smiling one of his rare, genuine smiles, for her. Out of the others' views he tucked her hair neatly behind her pale ear._

"_Wake me in four hours, m'kay? I'll take over watch then." Sasori absently nodded and she knew he was not going to rouse her in the slightest. Saori plopped down next to Deidara, giving him ample space. He cracked an eye open lazily in response._

_"Cold, hmm?" Not one to put himself in discomfort to ease that of another, he did not bother to offer her his shredded Akatsuki cloak or the thicker but shorter black one he wore now as his civilian apparel for town travel. He did, however, shift a bit closer to her - not too close, though. He did not like close contact and knew Saori had a tendency to freak under close contact. _

_"Nope," the girl replied with a note of self-satisfaction. Abruptly his cheek was whacked by the back of her hand._

_"Hey!" He grabbed her offending hand. "You're warm, hmm..." He put his other hand other arm. "Really warm. It's nice, yeah!"_

_"Are you sick?" Sakura rushed over and placed a hand on her forehead. "But your breath is normal."_

_"It's just my chakra. I was cold, so I ran it through my system, that's all."_

_"Fire-type chakra doesn't run this warm." Sasuke had the same chakra type and he had always had perfectly cool skin._

_"When you're desert folk, chakra is essential to maintaining healthy body warmth levels. In the day time, when the sun was blazing, the fuuton freaks kept ventilated through cycling their chakra. At night was our turn to laugh, though." The fuuton users, those of the wind-type chakra, would freeze in the night in the deserts devastatingly cold evenings while the katon users of the Ookamika Clan, like Saori, kept nearly as warm as they had been during the day. Saori stopped circulating the flow of her chakra, dropping her core temperature several degrees._

_"Hey!" growled Deidara, annoyed. "I was using that!"_

_When she circulated her chakra again, she felt a deep rumble in Deidara' s chest, almost like a purr. She laughed. "If you say so, then I'll trust you," Sakura replied. She nestled on the ground next to Saori to absorb her residual warmth like Saori was a radiator of sorts. _It's nice... _she absently thought. Several hours later when Deidara snored loudly and Sakura murmured in her sleep and Sasori thought they had all fallen asleep, the puppeteer shrugged off his jacket and embraced the cold so he could drape the red cloth over Sakura's slumbering form. He went back to his post and did not notice the little smile on Saori's face after he had gone. _

This is what it feels like to belong.

* * *

_AS EXPECTED SASORI DID not wake up any of them during the night to take over his watch, not even Deidara, who by all means should have been capable and used to the job. Saori had hoped she would wake up in time to relieve him but she had in fact been very much in need of decent rest that the blessed six hours had left her completely knocked out. She woke to the warmth of the sun on her face and a very unpleasant liquid on her fingers. "Eww... did you really have to drool on me, Deidara-kun?" The young man mumbled in his sleep, shifting a bit before he cracked a brilliant azure eye open with a satisfied smile on his tanned, youthful face. "Deidara-kun, you drooled on me."_

_He cracked a wider grin. "Since when did you use honorifics on me, hmm? You're making me feel old, Saori- _chan_!"  
_

_I don't know. I just... I just felt like it." Because it feels right._

_Saori wiped her slobber covered fingers on Deidara's jacket, much to his chagrin, and pulled herself to her feet, stretching her sore back. "Sasori-sama! Good morning! Please take a nap before we leave."_

_The crimson haired man shook his soft red locks. "We'd better get moving."_

_Like a child she stomped her foot and whined, "You should sleep some, Sasori-sama!"_

_"There will be time for resting. Stop being a kid." She pouted for extra measure and reluctantly picked up her bag and ran a hand through her dirty hair to banish tangles and dead leaves._

_"Jeez, I need a wash," she muttered to herself, noting Sakura's pink hair, for the most part, was clean._

_She felt a large hand descend on her head and a little biting, causing her to brighten, knowing exactly who it was. "I'll say, hmm..."_

_"Don't bite my hair, please." The dashing blonde flashed her a strangely white crooked grin that for a second Saori thought made her heart jump, but it must have been her imagination. Sasori had them moving again and it struck Saori odd that Sasori was helping Sakura up but she brushed it away, assuming Sakura must have been injured or something. If Deidara had bore witness to the event he would have known right away the news that would have brightened Saori's day infinitely. But alas, he did not._

_"Hey. Hey, hmm!" Deidara jabbed his younger's rib cage none too lightly. "Do you see what I see?" A devious grin spread on her face. Sasori skirted the thing they saw, heading for the cover of the trees, but the devious duo was not about to let it slip away from them. Deidara held his hands out, ready to catch._

_"Nghh!" In an instant Saori collapsed into herself, hand draped across her chakra-heated forehead dramatically._

_"Saori-chan, hmm!" Deidara exclaimed, his voice an octave higher to feign surprise. "Sasori-danna, Sakura-chan, Saori collapsed!" Without hesitation Sakura ran to the red bundle in Deidara's arms. Sasori was more reluctant, probably having taken note of the flare of Saori's chakra when she heated her forehead._

_"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, panicked as she checked for vital signs. Saori's breathing and heart rate were irregular and her forehead - "Gosh! That... that sort of burned!" She felt for Saori's hand, who wisely withdrew the heat from the rest of her body. "Her body's almost ice cold."_

_"Now, now, hmm," Deidara cut in. If Sakura continued, they would end up in a hospital, not where he intended them to go, for sure. "She's just exhausted. Probably used to getting the full eight hours instead of these quick naps. Aren't you, Saori, hmm?"_

_Saori cracked a gold eye open, having half a mind to tell him she in fact ran on a four hour sleep schedule but deciding against it. "Exhausted like you wouldn't believe! I could use a day of relaxation instead of this aimless wandering and dodging; that forest floor was kind of not stress-relieving at all."_

_"Hey!" Deidara brightened. "That town we saw - pretty big, yeah? Let's see if they have hot springs, hmm!"_

_"Hot springs! I could really use that."  
_

_"I don't know, Saori-san. Your forehead..." Sakura trailed off._

_"Please, Sasori-sama! Sakura could use a break too, you know. She's a tough cookie but even tough cookies need breaks." The puppet master had seemed dead set to say no until Saori mentioned Sakura. He flicked his chocolate eyes over to the medic ninja. She_ did _need relaxation, for reasons the devious duo had yet to know, so it was to their utter surprise that Sasori said, "Yes, let's go into town." He deftly and completely ignored the fact Saori jumped energetically to her feet, suddenly free of ailment._

_"Yatta! Let's go, Deidara-kun!" Sakura shook her head with unrepressed amusement as Deidara dragged the trailing Saori, who struggled to keep up with his limitless energy and longer stride. Their race slowed as they approached town. In one swift motion Deidara swiftly and single-handedly unknotted and stole Saori's hitai-ate, removing his own, and stuffed them in his pockets, followed by his arm snaking below her rear and removing her shuriken holster on her thigh. Behind, Sasori just as quickly and efficiently removed Sakura's defining ninja articles._

_"Loosen your muscles, yeah. If they see how much muscle you have they're going to wonder, hmm." _

_"But you've got more than me. Why should I have to and you not?" Saori whined._

_"But I'm a guy and I'm young and I'm hot, hmm."  
_

_"Well... well I'm young, too!" Deidara mussed up her hair._

_"Too young, hmm."  
_

_"Halt! Identification, please?" The guard of the town entrance looked incredibly stiff, cap dark with sweat from the heat of summer and slipping down his forehead. He was alone, and it seemed that no one had relieved him from duty for hours. If he did not believe a word from Saori's mouth in his haggard state, she would never live it down. She made a show of fussing with her red messenger bag, digging about, irritating the weary guard. She gave him the biggest, wettest shoujo eyes she could manage and added a little charming giggle of slight embarrassment._

_"I'm so sorry," Saori continued, fussing with the contents of her bag. Bits of paper flew out, floating to the ground like snow. "I'm Ootonami Sasayaku, and that's my brother Ootonami Saiko, and his best friend Kaito and fiancé Fujita. I had our papers this morning - we're vacationing before the big wedding - I swear, I had the papers..." She batted her rather short eyelashes for effect. "You believe me, don't you?"_

_"Whose bright idea was it to let you hold the papers?" Sasori muttered audibly under his breath as his effort for the show. The guard swatted them in._

_"Go, go. Don't cause trouble. Just go on already..."_

_"Oh, thank you, I'm **so** sorry, I really -!"_

_"Come on, hmm," Deidara chuckled like an endearing brother as he pretended to playfully pull her way from the guard. The town was bustling with activity, and Sasori and Sakura had already disappeared. In older days, Saori would have panicked, but now she had grown older and a bit more mature, become accustomed to on-the-run life. Besides, she had Deidara. One can never be alone or lost in the presence of nakama. "You know... you were pretty good, hmm."_

_"I was?"_

_"Back there, hmm. Doe eyes, batting your short ass eyelashes... I don't even know how you made it look like your bag was full of stuff, yeah. It's not. You have what? Five things in there, hmm?" He added, looking away and possibly with embarrassment, "Almost fell for it too, yeah." Saori flushed ten shades of red, deeper and darker than her own hair color._

_"No one's ever complimented me on my skill."_

_"You had Mikaiyo for a jounin, probably no contact with any girls who cared, and otherwise surrounded by Iwa boys. Go figure, hmm."_

_"Was is it with guys and refusing to compliment?"_

_"I just did, hmm!"_

_Saori stopped in front of him and hugged his torso because her four foot ten figure could not reach his five foot five stature, even on her tiptoes. 'I already know that," she murmured into the soft white-blue fabric of his shirt. She ignored the incredibly uncomfortable hardness underneath against her cheek. She never imagined, as much of a beloved stuffed animal she sometimes thought him to be, that he was ever really soft. Muscles seemed to be one of Deidara's ways to confirm his masculinity, which she was seriously putting at risk at the moment by hugging him._

_"Saori... get off, hmm. People are looking..."_

_She pulled away, just as the pyromaniac ordered. "Because it's just so weird for guys to get hugged in public, right?"_

_He grabbed her forearm and continued walking. "More importantly, people are going to think I'm a child-molesting pervert who charmed himself a kid for a girlfriend with my raging hot looks, hmm. Without Sasori and Sakura, we could definitely look like we eloped, hmm."_

_"I'm fourteen, Deidara!"_

_"My point, hmm. I don't want moms coming out of houses hitting me with their thickest iron-wrought woks and pans thinking I'm a child molester, hmm."_

_"Okay, okay, just let go of me and let's go!" Saori bounded up the less populated cobblestone covered hill where they could see Sasori's flaming hair and Sakura's pink tendrils in the distance, waiting. "You guys ditched us!"_

_"You were too slow," Sasori returned without skipping a beat. His tone was cold and condescending but there was a twinkle in his chocolate eyes and slight twitching at the corners of his lips. "Let's move."_

_Before splitting ways, Deidara pulled Saori to the side, bent over so he attained her height. He whispered in her ear, "Remember the plan, hmm. You bother Sakura and I'll work my magic on Sasori-danna, hmm. At the end of the day we should have accomplished the impossible!" Saori quietly laughed and nodded, skipping happily after Sakura, who had already gone into the ladies' side of the hot spring. Sasori eyed the partners in crime warily._

_"Don't do anything stupid, stupid," Sasori warned before going in. He did not specify to whom he was speaking. On the other side of the rock wall, Sakura and Saori were about to enter the water. Sakura rented a cubby to share, placing her clothes neatly. She wrinkled her nose at Saori's unceremonious heap and proceeded to fold them for her. Like a mother. _

_"What did Deidara-san want?" asked Sakura._

_"Ahm, the usual."_

_"Usual?"_

_"Yup. You know, were just noticing how Sasori-sama is acting differently."_

_"Really now?"_

_"Yup. You know, you maintain a pretty good relationship with him. He's a toughie, but you sure get to his soft side," Saori grinned._

_"I think you forget I killed him."_

_"Seems to me he's gotten over that. I mean, way I heard it, it was more like his grandmother who did the killing and he purposely left himself open to it."_

_"No, he did not! He did not want to die. I'm sure of it." She repeated, "I'm sure of it…"_

_"C'mon! He is so nice to you… Think about it; he helps you to your feet, he makes breaks for you, which is a lot coming from the King of Absolutely No Rest… Aww, I think he likes you!" Sakura patted her head and dipped into the satisfying heat._

_"Sure he does, Saori-san." She had a satisfied little smile on her pretty pink lips but it was not out of the pure bliss of the water, but because Saori had not a clue. _If they only knew… _Water splashed into the spring over the rock wall and Deidara audibly groaned in pain._

_"I told you not to jump in, brat," Sasori said. He clambered into the pool with the amazing grace only expected of a puppet master. Deidara laudably ignored him, sneaking up the redhead's side._

_"So, danna," the pyromaniac started casually, "awfully nice of you to agree to let us relax for once, hmm… and in town." The wheels in his head turned for a plan of attack._

_"Yes," Sasori returned bluntly. He had undoubtedly keen senses and was well aware something was up between Deidara and Saori and it had everything to do with the confusion between Sakura and him. He had no intention of falling for any of Deidara's traps._

_"Don't know, danna, but it seems to me you've softened a bit, hmm." No response. "I don't think it's Saori who's softened you, hmm." Still none, but Deidara was sure he saw Sasori's jaw twitch. "Might be a stretch, but I'm thinking Sakura might be the culprit. Soft, pretty pink hair, spunky attitude…" Deidara whistled. "I might want a bit of that myself, hmm."  
_

_"Help yourself. Just do it when Saori and I are not in the room. I do not need Saori to be any blinder than she already is from seeing your naked rear." Ooh, there was definite spite in his voice._

_"Sure about that? I thought you'd be pissed, hmm."  
_

_"Why would I be? I have no interest in that girl."  
_

_"Hey, hey, I never said anything about interest, hmm. Now that _you _have, my guess is that you are."  
_

_"I. Have. No. Interest."_

_"Sure you don't like Sakura-chan, hmm?"_

_"What do you not understand about no interest?"_

* * *

_WHEN THEIR TIME WAS up, Sasori booked them a room in a cozy bed and breakfast for the sake of funds. Deidara was the only one who really noted this, mostly because of his few years of experience as Sasori's partner in the Akatsuki. He was still curious, however, at why Sasori had not pulled a Kakuzu and made them stay at a dirt cheap motel. But as his tense backside met the lavender-scented sheets, he really could not complain. 'You girls on that bed; Deidara and I will take the other double," Sasori flatly commanded. Since Sakura stood behind Deidara's and Saori's line of sight, only Sasori could see the look of alarm on Sakura's face. She pointed to her seemingly flat stomach and mouthed, _What if Saori feels it? _But she would not have to worry about that because in the next moment, Deidara's azure eyes brightened and he roughly pulled Saori's arm, causing the younger to collapse sloppily on top of him on the double bed._

_"Don't be queer, yeah, Sasori-danna. I don't want to sleep in the same bed as a dude if I don't have to, hmm." He added, "And by majority vote, since each mouth is worth a vote and I've got four, Saori sleeps with me, hmm. Smallest body to go with the biggest one, you know, hmm." Sasori gave them a deadpan look before waving his hands in the air._

_"You two just want me to share a bed with Haruno. You already know, Deidara. Recall what I stated whilst I locate the dinner schedule." He consequently exited the baby blue room._

_"I know you two are only jesting, but please keep in mind that I more or less killed him," Sakura quietly voiced. She opened the door in the back leading to the bathroom and the shower began to run. Sasori had told her personally he had somehow gotten around that, but she feared they were rubbing salt in the wound unnecessarily. The devious duo were momentarily quiet, still, and had all the seriousness in the world before Deidara broke into a wide white grin, slightly crooked on the right._

_"Sasori-danna told me I could have Sakura, hmm."_

_"You wouldn't!" Saori breathed._

_Deidara scrunched up his face. "That wasn't what I was saying, hmm! I wouldn't want her anyways. She had no respect for my art. My woman has to at the very least respect it if not be in complete admiration of it."_

_"Then what's your point?"_

_"We should make Sasori **believe** I'm making a move on Sakura-chan. Jealousy hits hard, hmm."_

_"Genjutsu?"_

_"Exactly, hmm."  
_

_"Pucker up." Saori energetically rolled to her feet so she missed the look of startled discomfort on Deidara's face._

_"Mask me, hmm." As instructed, Saori thinly coated the room with her chakra in pretense of doing a security sweep while Deidara began the hand seals for a genjutsu that hopefully Sasori would not be able to see through. When the puff of smoke dispersed, only Sakura remained where Saori once stood. "By the way, if those were your bedroom eyes, you're going to need to practice a bit, hmm. Or a lot."_

_Sakura's lips formed a pout, "I'm not that type of kunoichi."  
_

_"If you're a kunoichi, you need those skills, hmm."_

_"No fair! If I have to learn those skills, why don't you? Why only girls?"  
_

_"Who says I haven't, hmm?" Deidara closed the gap between their bodies in a second, lazily draping his arm over her shoulder as his fingers played with pink hair. His azure orbs darkened and Sakura's breath hitched when Deidara's other hand rested on her hip, the mouth biting at her pant's hem. He found himself leaning forward and for a second he thought Sakura was leaning forward, too._

_But then the door burst open and Deidara learned he was sorry he did not get to meet those dark pink lips._

_Sakura was ripped from his grasp; a very, _very _angry Sasori glared at the blue-eyed player. "What the hell were you doing, brat?"_

_Before Deidara could say a word, Sakura sputtered, "Sasori-kun, do you love me?"_

_Chocolate eyes pierced hers. "I already told you."_

_"S-say it again."_

_"Fine. I love her. Satisfied, brat?" To Sasori's bewilderment, Sakura began laughing and Deidara wildly grinning. He held a hand sign and let Sasori know he had been duped at last by the devious duo. Sasori let go of Saori, whom he thought was Sakura, and stalked back out the door with a loud, furious slam. From behind the door of the steam-filled bathroom, Sakura grinned a little. Having him actually say the four-lettered L word made all the difference._

_Sasori came back towards midnight, well after the trio had taken dinner quietly in their room. They might have crossed the line of torturing Sasori, whose waves of clear murderous intent permeated the room. He slipped under the covers of his chosen bed, announcing his arrival to Sakura with a blast of humid summer air. She snuggled closer to him after he settled. "Don't be mad at them," she murmured. "They're just being kids."_

_"They could have done it some other way."  
_

_"Please, forgive their stupidity."_

_"If you kiss me, I'll think about it," he smirked. Sakura grinned back and granted his wish._

_Two hours later and the only pair of eyes that remained open were blue. His sleeping had been rather erratic, his mind consistently flickering to that moment hours ago. His tanned fingers brushed over his lips. Had he really felt a want to kiss her? While the rest of the world saw Sakura so close to him, he, as the caster of the genjutsu, had only seen his redheaded follower. He had not had the slightest notion of romantic affections for her, ever, not even when Toyotomi discretely showed his affections towards Saori at the prison. He had not felt any jealousy, and, more importantly and highly unusual, any sense of competition. Because he had felt nothing for her._

_Somehow, however, hours ago, he had felt a flicker of something when she was so near. Willing. He hardly could imagine she had ever gotten a first kiss, what with past in Iwagakure, and she had been so clearly enamored with Ootowari Toyotomi that he could not understand for what reason she would want to give her first kiss to _him _- and for a joke to get a rise out of Sasori._

_Deidara held Saori's hair betwixt his fingers, staring intently at the girl beside him. Nothing. He did not feel much of anything. Satisfied, he rolled over and fell asleep._

* * *

**Author's Note:** So... quite a bit of Deidara x Saori. It not the objective in the beginning but my bestie from Germany is its only supporter (as I am the most avid supporter of her OC x Hidan, the only OCxCanon I support, but she does not recognize) and in order to get her to draw her OC and Hidan in an art trade she made me draw DeiSao. Which got a lot of thinking going. I really, really don't think and I really, really hope that DeiSao doesn't get any more intense than this. I'm happy with the way it ended, with him feeling nothing at all... please, Deidara fangirls, do not kill me. This is as intense as it will get.

I hope you guys enjoyed the SasoSaku! I can't really tell if it's OOC. I feel it might be. Sorry :(


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